It was a strange game from start to finish but Arsenal managed to score three and come from behind to get a good win over Southampton. The Hampshire side are well drilled and give opponents no quarter, so this was a hard-fought win and one which the stats-haters would quite enjoy a chuckle at.
With Kyle Walker-Peters injured and Ryan Bertrand suspended Southampton were forced to make two desperate changes to their back line and play academy graduates Jake Vokins and Yan Valery in their first starts of the season.
Southampton got off to a rocky start: Bednarek passed to Xhaka in the first minute of the game, which wasn’t recorded as an interception by Xhaka, and Xhaka played a throughball to Lacazette who was completely unmarked by either Bednarek or Ward-Prowse. Lacazette’s shot lacked a bit of creativity and even though Alex McCarthy went down way too soon he was able to get the block when Laca shot right at him. It was a let off for Soton but would be shades of more to come.
However, Southampton took the early lead when Ward-Prowse played in a tempting ball from a corner to the edge of the box and Stewart Armstrong got past a slumbering Nicola Pepe to volley home. Leno got a hand on it but was clearly incensed that his defense let a player walk in like that and get a shot with no pressure.
Arsenal equalized moments later when Saka “intercepted” a pass from Stephens who was being pressured by Lacazette (more on this in a moment). Saka passed to Thomas, who played the ball across to Xhaka and once again Xhaka played in a through ball, this time to Pepe. Pepe had got round Yan Valery and used his body well to block off the young defender before placing home the equalizer. Throughballs from Xhaka are like busses, you wait forever and all the sudden there are two. Xhaka last played a throughball in the opening match of the season against Fulham.
Throughballs have gone missing from this Arsenal side for quite some time: Emery liked them but only from his wide forwards (Iwobi and Mkhi) to his fullbacks, and Arsene Wenger loved them, they were his team’s bread and butter. But they have been few and far between since Arteta took over. One can hope we keep it up though, because playing throughballs to runners behind defenses is an excellent way to score goals.
From there the match had a sort of see-saw, back and forth, where Southampton created chances which just weren’t quite good enough to beat Leno. Soares had a volleyed shot go wide, D.Ings tried a flick-kick from a set play by Ward-Prowse (which might have been a goal if it had gone to a slightly better forward), and Vokins played in a cross for a header which forced a great save from Leno. Yan Valery drove at the Arsenal defense and fired in a shot when he should have made a simple pass to a wide open Theo Walcott.
Southampton looked the most likely to score but then in a flash, Lacazette played in a throughball (which didn’t count as a throughball, even though it literally goes between two players) to Saka and the Southampton keeper went full Almunia and abandoned his goal to.. do nothing. Saka slipped around him and put the ball into the open goal.
In the second half, Arsenal upped their pressure, choosing to abandon possession for a more defensive approach. And much to my personal delight it wasn’t just a jellyfish defensive approach: you could hear Arteta imploring his players to press. Lacazette made a season high 26 pressures (well off his career high of 42 in the 2-0 win against Man U) and both Pepe and Saka added 21 additional pressures up top. I mentioned Lacazette’s high press against Man U because that was another match in which Pepe added 21 pressures and it’s important that Arsenal coordinate pressure across the front and through the middle. Pepe created 9 regains off his 21 pressures, an Arsenal career high.
Meanwhile in the midfield Thomas Partey had a bit of a quiet match but one noteable stat is that he won 61% of his pressures (8/13) and is Arsenal’s best presser at 49%. That’s an absurd(ly good) rate and I think points to a player who presses intelligently rather than frequently. He seems to have a nose (it’s actually a brain) for when he can win the ball back.
Saka put the match to bed with a lovely cross for Lacazette. The move was started by Soares with a patented stop and play a long pass across field and finished by Saka and Laka who just ghosted past their markers. Poor defending it has to be said by Southampton who are known to occasionally just give up in matches.
Cedric Soares is being hailed by all and sundry so I thought I’d just share his stats line:
82 – Touches (led Arsenal by a huge margin, Pepe is 2nd with 51)
62 – Live ball touches (Pepe 51)
63 – Percent pass completion (42/67) which was dragged down by 27% long ball passing (4/15)
23 – High passes (passes in the air)
14 – Passes under pressure (led Arsenal)
3 – Passes just straight out of play (led Arsenal)
3 – Passes to interceptions (led Arsenal
384 – Progressive passing yards (led Arsenal)
6 – Final 1/3 passes (led Arsenal)
2 – Key passes (joint led Arsenal)
2 – Passes in the penalty area (led Arsenal)
0.2 – Expected Assists
3 – Tackles attempted (led Arsenal) but 1 tackle won
5 – Pressure regains (39%, pretty good)
5 – Blocked passes (which is an absurd number: Wan-Bissaka leads the League with 3.41 per90)
24 – Carries
59 – Yards progressive carry
3 – Progressive carries
1 – Final third carry
2 – Carries into the penalty area (tied with Pepe)
0 – Dispossessed
12 – Ball recoveries
The match wasn’t without its comedy moments: David Luiz had a clanger, Smith (no hyphen) Rowe got in and nearly dinked in a goal, Pepe tried to chip the keeper (while the keeper was standing in the box), Pepe got a yellow card for “timewasting” while Smith (no hyphen) Rowe was down injured, uhh… what else?
Overall a good win (without the talisman) and one which Arsenal absolutely needed if they want to play in Europe next season.
Arsenal are now in 8th place on points having played 20 matches. All but 5 teams have games in hand, many of which will be played today.
Enjoyable game and a good read, will marinate on that for now.
Throughballs, buses, Xhaka … Tím, that’s brilliant
It’s official. No. 11 has a new name but same initials as the previous occupant, MO (hopefully new and improved version). Let’s hope the kid can drag us to the Top 4 trophy.
Amusing stuff. All his powers derive from his lack of a hyphen.
A lot to like about yesterday’s performances: Xhaka, Cedric, ESR, Partey, Saka, Lacazette, all very good to excellent.
Looking forward to seeing how this loan works out. The new #11MO is supposed to be the most cultured passer ever to play in an Arsenal shirt since…the last #11MO?
Watching You Tube clips of #14TH late last night. OMG, what a player I was reminded he was. The sheer cheek, the insouciance of some of those goals! It’s like “you know who I am, I know who I am. I am Thierry Henry. This ball at my feet is going to be in the back of your net in less than 5 seconds and there is no mortal power on this earth that can possibly stop it.” Incredible.
With Thierry it was always mind over matter. “I don’t mind and you don’t matter.”
What a fabulous series of results this evening
Looks like top four is back on the menu, boys!
Who’d have thunk it, back round Thanksgiving.
Not me. I was saying there was no way back for Arteta, lol! But honestly, this is the kind of season where everything is up in the air. We might be able to catch United on a downward turn of form, and really throw the table into chaos. Wouldn’t that be fun? I’m still not conviced by Ole, I have to say. Could easily crumble. Just hoping we have enough players fit for Saturday. Need KT, Thomas, ESR back in the lineup.
Apologies for the lack of context on this thread, but coming back to a previous piece of yours, relating the amount of dribbling to overall performance. Might it be that confidence plays such an important part in achieving success on the football field, and that if you are feeling confident, you are more likely to dribble with the ball? A simple case of cause and effect.
Yes, indeed but now we really need to points off the Lancs. What are the chances that we can do the double on them in the league and that they will drop two matches in a row? It’s always the hope that kills you!
Understand the anxiety, but for now what else can you do but sit back and laugh, eh? Moaners 1, Sheffield Utd 2? Ahhhahahahahahaah…
My Man Utd friends can’t believe they are as high up the table as they are. For the most part of the season, they’ve been pretty ordinary, according to them.
Likewise West Ham. I don’t see them lasting the course. A flash in the pan.
Our main job is keeping the 1st XI healthy and try to keep our little run going. Top 4 might be a bit beyond us, but who knows? A strange season so far.
Pedant corner: Manchester stopped being in Lancashire in the 1970s It’s now in the county of Greater Manchester. You’re probably better off calling them Mancs.
I can think of a few other descriptions, as well.
I’ve been enjoying pedants corner over the last couple of threads, I think we should keep it
So much in this post of the wonderful writing we’ve come to expect from this blog. Original, sardonic, amusing, and insightful, with clever bits of irony and deadpan. Is jellyfish defending your creation. If so, well done. If not, well employed.
Smith ( no hyphen) Rowe was running a lot across the width of the field . Yeah normally too he is always on the move , but yesterday his movement looked more defensive. What is your take Tim ?
Thanking you in anticipation
Good question!
He had 18 pressures and just 3 pressure regains but 9 of the pressures were in the opposition final third. He also had a combined 4 tackles+interceptions. Many of these are season highs or near highs.
The thing I like here is that, a lot like Martinelli, even if he doesn’t directly win the ball back himself he starts the pressure for Arsenal. Also, when you have a number 10 who presses in this manner if your MFers win the ball back he’s usually in a great place to start the attack.
What’s interesting is that he didn’t have any shot creating actions or goal creating actions (he did get through once for his own shot): a repeat of the game against Palace. Which I think is again down to him struggling to understand how to find space and teammates against these low-block teams.
Thanks Boss. Today it is sandwich treat
Great Arsenal team effort against a high quality Southampton team. Delighted Laca scored, he was laying balls off left and right without receiving much back in return. What a fantastic performance by Cedric.