Arsenal dropped points in the Premier League title race after surviving Southampton scare to settle for a dramatic 3-3 draw at the Emirates Stadium.
Starting Lineup
Arsenal XI: Ramsdale, White, Holding, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Partey, Odegaard, Vieira, Saka, Martinelli, Jesus
Southampton XI: Bazunu, Walker-Peters, Bella-Kotchap, Bednarek, Perraud, Ward-Prowse, Lavia, Alcaraz, Elyounoussi, A Armstrong, Walcott.
It was a nightmare start for Arsenal in front of their home fans as the match kicked off.
A costly blunder by Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale saw the Saints took a surprise lead just in the first minute of the game.
While attempting to pass the ball to his teammate, Ramsdale ended up passing the ball mistakenly to Alcaraz who wasted no time crashing a thunderbolt into the net to give the Saints a surprise lead at the Emirates Stadium.
It was a costly mistake by Ramsdale forcing the Gunners to concede a cheap goal.
After giving away the cheap goal on a platter to the visitors, the Gunners pressed up for an equaliser fixing the visitors into their own half.
Southampton comfortably sat back to defend and patiently waited to ambush the Gunners on counter attack when having the ball.
In the 14th minute, a shock counter attacking move by the Saints yielded result as they hit the Gunners again to double the lead against the run of play.
Thomas Partey was dispossessed close to the halfway line and the Saints broke on a quick counter.
A perfect throughball by Alcaraz for Walcott saw the former Arsenal player stung his former team as he slots home the throughball, beating Aaron Ramsdale to double the lead for Southampton.
Conceding two early goals against Southampton was a shocker. A win for Arsenal would have seen the Gunners open a 7-point gap on the top of the Premier League table.
Southampton were trapped at the bottom of the Premier League table and are battling to survive relegation.
Securing all three points against the Gunners at Emirates would have been another shock result for the Saints.
Arsenal comfortably stay atop proceedings going forward but had to break through the resilient Southampton defense to find the back of the net.
Six minutes after Theo Walcott’s goal, Arsenal’s highest goal-scorer this season, Gabriel Martinelli, put one back for the Gunners in the 20th minute to restore comeback hopes.
It was a perfectly worked-out goal for the Gunners. Zinchenko pass the ball to Odeggard who sent a through ball on the right wing to Bukayo Saka.
Saka drove down inside the box before sending powerful cross which was fired in by Martinelli to make it 2-1.
Arsenal mounted heavy pressure to find an equaliser without breakthrough in the remaining minutes of the first half
Southampton held off the Gunners’ desperate charge for an equaliser to head into the first half break with a 2-1 lead.
Arsenal forced the game on the visitors with great effort and more intensity as the second half started.
The marathon of pressure by the Gunners failed to yield with the game crossing the half hour mark.
Southampton held on to their tenuous lead as the home side ramped pressure to equalise.
In the 66th minute, Saints grabbed a golden chance to extend their lead with Caletar-Car on target for the away side.
A shoddy defending by the Gunners allowed Caletar-Car head home Southampton’s third goal after a cornerkick to compound Arsenal woes and edged the visitors close to a historic win.
Arsenal were obviously frustrated after Southampton’s third goal.
The second-half goal deadlock for the Gunners lingered with few minutes remaining in the game as Southampton close in on big win over the Gunners.
After taking the shock 3-1 lead, Southampton lined up all 10 men in their own half frustrating attempts by Arsenal to find the back of the net.
In the 88th minute, Martin Oddegard put one back for the Gunners to bring the Gunners close to a draw against the Saints.
Three minutes after Odeggard’s goal, Bukayo Saka hit a stoppage-time strike to bring the scoreline to a dramatic 3-3 draw.
Saints survived last minutes fiery charge by Arsenal to secure a point from the Premier League title hopefuls after the final whistle.
The draw saw Arsenal drop valuable two points on the Premier League title race missing a chance to go seven points clear before the crunch tie against Manchester City on Wednesday, April 26.
