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2022/23 English Premier League
Matchday 13
Southampton v Arsenal
St Mary's
Southampton, England
Sunday, 23 October 2022
Kick-off is at 15h00
Arsenal will attempt to extend their lead at the
Premier League summit when they lock horns with Southampton at St Mary's on Sunday, October 23.
Mikel Arteta's side opened up a four-point gap on the chasing pack with a 1-0 victory over Leeds at Elland Road last Sunday, courtesy of Bukayo Saka's 35th-minute goal.
It was the Gunners' fourth league win on the spin as they capitalised on Manchester City's first defeat of the season at the hands of Liverpool.
They have a good recent record against the Saints in the top flight, winning five of their previous 10 encounters, although they lost 1-0 in the corresponding fixture last term.
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Arteta admitted the north Londoners struggled to impose themselves on the Whites, but hailed the desire of his players to grind out a win.
"It was a really tough one. We knew that; we expected a really chaotic game in certain periods. We extended that period too much, especially in the second half," the Spaniard said.
"I think in the first half, we had some great moments, some incredible plays where we should have scored two or three goals, and we didn't. Then the second half, we started right from the kick-off in a really bad way.
"We conceded a goal that was disallowed, and we never got any momentum. We put ourselves in trouble in the first regulation, especially in build-up. After that we never got a real kick of the game and be able to impose ourselves.
"But that said, as well, the resilience, the character, the personality, and as well, that willingness that I saw there from the players to win again, is what I really love."
The Saints arrested an alarming five-match losing streak with a 1-1 draw against West Ham on the south coast at the weekend.
Romain Perraud opened the scoring in the 20th minute to register his first league goal for the club, but Declan Rice hit back for the Hammers on 64 minutes to deny Ralph Hasenhuttl's team what would have been their third victory of the campaign.
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Hasenhuttl felt they could have gone into the break with more than just a one-goal lead and thought the defending was poor for the equaliser, but all-in-all he was content with a point.
"We need every point, but more was possible, especially because of the first half," the Austrian said. "The second half I think we were a little bit under pressure, especially after the equaliser and couldn't really lift ourselves to more counterattacks or more dangerous actions on the ball.
"This was not so good; I think the defending in and around the box was OK. We defended a lot of set-pieces today in a good way, this was a positive thing.
"Then again, the thing is you concede one goal from a shot from outside of the box and we can definitely defend better but it's tough."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Southampton - 1
Arsenal - 3
Draws - 1
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