So we come back to a discussion about bogey teams and how they always give Arsenal a tough game no matter the respective League positions, well Southampton are rapidly becoming our latest bogey team.
When we went to St. Mary’s on Boxing Day we were on a run of 5 wins in row, and Southampton were rapidly dropping down the table, but the Gunners were severely embarrassed by a stunning 4-0 defeat. The Saints boss Ronald Koeman believes that his team’s confidence against Arsenal is more than just that game. “It’s not only about the Boxing Day game and the final result, no,” Koeman said on the official Southampton website.
“We played four times against Arsenal before Tuesday and we have won three of them. We won both at home and the away game in the League Cup.
“We lost in the last second by 1-0 last season in the Premier League. That means it’s close, even though they are fighting to win the title and we are not.
“But we showed we can be competitive against them and a very hard team to beat. We would like that again on Tuesday.”
“We believe in our qualities and we play out of good organisation,”
“That’s always difficult for the opponent to beat Southampton. That’s the reason why we have some good results in the last few weeks and we like to continue with that.
“We had a great result at home against Arsenal not so long ago. They will try to show they are the better team, but we know it’s not so easy to beat Southampton.”
Believe me Ronald, Arsenal know full well how hard it is to beat you! And so do Watford, West Brom and Man United, who you beat at Old Trafford last week! But now it’s our turn. It is us that’s going through a bad run, and the Saints that are on form. Expect to be shocked when we get our revenge with a 4-0 reverse this time!