How Arsenal can exploit Southampton problems?

Some Arsenal fans might wonder what problems I am talking about, as Arsenal’s next opponents have just earned a creditable draw with Chelsea and won their two previous games, scoring seven times in those three games and conceding just twice, but hear me out.

Before that, their confidence took a real battering with a string of defeats, including the one against the Gunners at the Emirates, that culminated in them being dumped out of the Capital One cup by League one club Sheffield United. So they may have recovered but their self belief is not what it was. And with the next Premier League game after Arsenal being a trip to Old Trafford to face Man United, Ronald Koeman may well be concerned about another bad run of results.

Add to that the fact that they will be without two of their key players against us, the right back Nathaniel Clyne and the central midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin, and you can see that the Gunners have a good opportunity to take the game to them. Without those two key players, I expect Koeman to err on the side of caution and make sure his team are hard to beat.

So with Alexis and the Ox keeping their full backs pinned back and with Welbeck and Cazorla giving Wanyama and the defence plenty to worry about, it should take some pressure off our own back line. But the Saints are dangerous themselves, especially on the counter, so we need to make sure that Flamini and either Rosicky or Coquelin keep their discipline.

Can Arsenal exploit Southampton’s problems and make it three wins on the spin?

Tags Clyne Koeman Schneiderlin

16 Comments

    1. one thing i have observed is that we perform better with few British players on the pitch. No offense intended to anyone but just facts. Look at the PL table, all teams that have many British players on the pitch are struggling

    2. isn’t there a way to beat a team cuz we have a game plan, experience and determination rather than ExpLoitations???? ….why are we so scared of opposing players before going into a game?…..oh Arsenal!…..SmH

    1. Why are you ALWAYS depressing Hafiz? You have not once said a positive thing about Arsenal, not once. Every time you say something, you make it sound like John Terry boned your wife too, and it’s getting quiet old. You don’t have to believe in Arsene, but you DO have to believe in the players that put on the Red and White. That is part of being a club supporter, and not just a glory-hunting bandwagoner.

      How do the results of Chelsea against one team have anything to do with OUR results against that same team? Chelsea tied against Southampton, correct. Do you forget that we have already beaten Southampton once, less than a month ago? Chelsea also could not beat Sunderland. Does that mean that we “definitely cant” beat them either? Or what about when Chelsea lost to Newcastle United? By your logic, or complete lack of logic, we should never in a million years be able to beat Newcastle United. They beat the all mighty Chelsea. Wait, what? We beaten both Sunderland and Newcastle? How did we manage that? That must be a typo, everybody knows that we definitely can’t do that.

      Stop being such a bloody pessimist. We’ve advanced to the knockout stages of the CL against a very mediocre team in Monaco and, in the league, we’re tied for 4th. We’re 13 points off first place and only 10 points off 2nd. Not only that, but we’ve been without Koscielny, Gibbs, Monreal, Ozil, Ramsey, Giroud and Walcott for much of this season. That is potentially 6 starters that have missed much of this season, yet we’re still within touching distance of 2nd place. Not only that, but ALL of them are going to be back from injury soon after New Years, and we have a very light fixture list in January.

      Aside from the FA cup match on December 4th, we have at least 7 days rest between games the rest of the month, which will only bode well as we get players back from injury into both match fitness and back into form.

      The only 2 signings that we need are a CB, and a DM, and we finally have the funds to purchase quality AND quantity. We could use a striker should Podolski leave, however it isn’t necessary. To me, we sign Vlaar and Van Djik, however keep Van Djik on loan at Celtic for the rest of the season so that he plays 1st team football week in and week out. This will also give Celtic cover at CB and make them more open to losing him as they will have 2 transfer windows to line up a replacement. The second option, is bring in a DM. Either Schneiderlin or Gustavo. Kondogbia and Carvalho both have the same agent as Mourinho and Diego Costa, so those transfers just wont happen.

      My point being, we are in decent shape going into 2015.

      1. i was once very very positive but season after season

        I was let down by Wenger…same old mistakes and errors…

        same old excuses

        1. Pointing out facts and the problems with the club is not the same thing as being negative. Being negative is just that…NEGATIVE. I’m not happy with wenger’s failings but I can NEVER be negative about Arsenal. I just won’t expect too much. Not the same thing.

  1. Tadic/Pelle will he hard to handle, I am sure we will concede. But Bertrand was injured last match, if with Clyne and Schneiderlin, he also sits out, we are in for a win. Their mid-field is weaker without Schneiderlin, but I think we are not that strong too. if Bertrand sits out, their defense will be as porous as ours. It depends on forwards how many they can score. A Poldi farewell special I would wish.

    1. I think Bertrand was just ineligible against Chelsea mate, as he’s on loan from there. Other two are big players for them, it’s a winnable match for sure.

  2. Well we’ve already beaten them once this season with a depleted squad, no reason we can’t do it again with a healthier one. Ox and Sanchez on the wings, Welbeck upfront. Might just be the perfect time of the season to get Koscielny, Theo, and Ozil back.

    1. I want Cazorla to continue as our no.10. He has been in scintillating form and Ozil should not JUST claim his place when coming back from injury. Ozil needs to fight for his place and if given a chance show that he can do better than Cazorla at the moment , and that is the way it should be in Arsenal.

  3. No schneiderlin will give boost for arsenal, just make sure not do silly thing
    wondering flamini and couqlein will be paired again
    Seriously, where is diaby ? what was wenger thinking when he got new contract several years ago ? what a waste money …..

  4. Make sure that this Flamini guy dies not act like a fool/thug with his stupid over the top thuggish tackles that alway result into early yellow cards.. When he gets these early yellow cards he becomes useless as he can’t risk tackling anymore because of fear of getting booked again and sent off..

    When Flamini is on a yellow card then that’s when you see the midfield getting over run because all he will resort to running about, clapping, pointing and shouting at his team mates telling them where to stand and what to do while he himself ain’t got a clue where to stand and ends up just ball watching and letting his player ghost behind him..

    The Coq is more intelligent and looks like he knows what his job is…

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