Arsenal are looking to bounce back from last weekend's defeat when they face Southampton at St Mary's on Sunday. Last season the Gunners defeated the Saints in both Premier League matches, 2-1 at home and 2-0 away, and they also recorded a 5-0 victory in the FA Cup. Southampton had their own victory over Arsenal last season, 2-0 in the League Cup. Overall, Arsenal have won three of the last six direct meetings in the Premier League, while Southampton grabbed two victories, both at home.
Southampton have won just four Premier League matches this season, and three of those victories were recorded at home. They have won just one of their last six league matches, but they have managed to score at least one goal in each of their last three games. Last week they recorded a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth and are currently sitting eleventh in the Premier League table. Cedric Soares and Shane Long are injury doubts ahead of Sunday's match, but Jeremy Pied has finally returned to action last week and will most likely play again.
Arsenal were defeated 3-1 at home by Manchester United last weekend, a result which puts the Gunners pretty much out of the title race as leaders Manchester City are fifteen points ahead. That was their fifth defeat in fifteen Premier League matches this season and it dropped them to fifth place. They recovered with a 6-0 victory over BATE Borisov in the Europa League on Thursday, but the match didn't have a big importance as the Gunners were already qualified. Shkodran Mostafi is still recovering from an injury and he might not be ready to play on Sunday, while Santi Cazorla remains a long-term absentee.
Probable line-ups:
Southampton: Forster - Pied, Van Dijk, Hoedt, Bertrand - Romeu, Lemina - Redmond, Tadic, Boufal - Austin
Arsenal: Cech - Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal - Bellerin, Ramsey, Xhaka, Kolasinac - Ozil, Sanchez - Lacazette
My prediction: Arsenal to win 2-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Southampton win - 4.00
Draw - 3.75
Arsenal win - 1.95
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Comments (1)
sharpe
12/11/17, 01:12:17 PM
It was important for Arsenal to bounce back after Man United home defeat last week but they should be happy even with that point after Giroud late equalizer. Not...
It was important for Arsenal to bounce back after Man United home defeat last week but they should be happy even with that point after Giroud late equalizer. Not a disastrous result for Arsenal but once again their ambitions would be just reaching top 4 and it would be a tough battle even for that.
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