Arsenal 3 v Southampton 2 - Premier League

This one isn't actually a statue, it's a supporter
going through a superstitious pre-match ritual

Sunday 8th April 2018

FA Premier League

at Ashburton Grove (Emirates Stadium)

Arsenal FC (2) 3
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 28, Danny Welbeck 38, 81

Southampton (1) 2
Shane Long 17, Charlie Austin 73
Officially announced attendance: 59,374

Arsenal:
Petr Cech, Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Calum Chambers, Sead Kolasinac, Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka, Reiss Nelson, Danny Welbeck, Alex Iwobi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Subs: Matt Macey (GK), Alexandre Lacazette, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil, Rob Holding, Nacho Monreal, Eddie Nketiah.
Southampton:
Alex McCarthy, Cedric Soares, Maya Yoshida, Jack Stephens, Wes Hoedt, Ryan Bertrand, James Ward-Prowse, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Oriol Romeu, Dusan Tadic, Shane Long
Subs: Fraser Forster (GK), Charlie Austin, Sofiane Boufal, Manolo Gabbiadini, Nathan Redmond, Jeremy Pied, Josh Sims.

It isn't the real Mesut Ozil.
This one moves more.

Standing room only on the train into London, with half the population of the city of Lincoln heading south to cheer on the Imps in the Checkatrade Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium, where they beat Shrewsbury Town 1-0 and made a stack of cash too. Good for them.
But I'm really glad that their game kicked off later than the one we were heading too, meaning that we got a seat on the way home.
The London bound leg of the journey was akin to a hectic, sweaty and undignified game of Twister, and only stopped marginally short of becoming a mass orgy, with a crowd of undesirable strangers.
Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to take a morning after pill when I get up tomorrow.

If you ever visit the Emirates Stadium when it is pissing down with rain, you will need to purchase tickets on row thirteen, or further back, to avoid getting drenched.
For the record, it was indeed raining, again... and we were on row nine, although to be fair there were plenty of empty seats that we could move to in most areas of the ground that had cover.
However, being a pair of football traditionalists, we drew inspiration from the anthem of the original Clock End, over the road at Highbury: "We get cold, we get wet, but we've not been taken yet!", and stayed put. And for the record... no! we didn't buy an official club polythene poncho with the back to front cannon motif that Arsenal have adopted, in place of the perfectly good badge they already had. We got cold and wet instead, of course.

Arsenal haven't got a hope of finishing in a Champions League qualifying place in this season's Premier League, unless one of the top four clubs goes out of business over the next few weeks, so they are concentrating on the Europa League for the remainder of this term now; a competition that does offer a back door entry into next year's most prestigious European event, to the winners of the 2017-18 tournament.
On Thursday night, the Gunners beat CSKA Moscow 4-1 at home, in the first leg of their quarter final tie, and play the return game in Moscow in four days time. So understandably Arsene Wenger made eight changes to his starting line up for today's game, which included 18 year old Reiss Nelson, who was making his first Premier League start this afternoon... and on the evidence of today's showing, he will have no problem fitting into first team squad set up whatsoever.

The home side chalked up their sixth straight win in a row, from an open game that the relegation threatened Saints will doubtless feel that they deserved more out of.
And to be fair, I probably wouldn't disagree with that point of view either.
While Wenger's side looked comfortable on the ball from the outset and knocked it about well, Southampton were putting up the kind of a rearguard action you might expect from a team that is battling for it's Premier League future and restricted their hosts to playing width ways across the pitch, as opposed to from end to end.

Which generally speaking is a far more direct route to the oppositions goal.
Patient, short range pass and move football and lengthy spells of ball retention might be all the rage in coaching circles, but the home crowd began to grow slightly restless at the lack of goalmouth action... but in the 17th minute, Southampton provided them with some, when Cedric Soares whipped the ball in from the right wing and Shkodran Mustafi faffed about instead of clearing the ball, or even taking the time to communicate with his keeper Pter Cech, which gave Shane Long the opportunity to nip in between them, nick the ball and stick it into the back of Arsenal's net.

Following Long's goal the tempo of the game picked up and Arsenal pulled level just before the half hour mark, after Alex Iwobi spotted Welbeck's movement off the ball and stroked a pass into the path of the England striker, who flicked it on for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to poke underneath the Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy a fraction before he arrived to rescue the situation.

Aubameyang has scored six goals in his first seven Premier League games for the North London side... it makes you wonder just how much Manchester City might offer for him at the end of the season, doesn't it!?

But today it would be Welbeck who would take centre stage... and in the 38th minute, he won the ball inside Arsenal's half and played the ball to Iwobi, who provided a great through ball in the formof a return pass, which Welbeck Winning possession inside his own half, Welbeck raced forward to get on the end of an exquisite through-ball from Iwobi. which he took in his stride, before motoring past two challenges and unleashing a well struck shot that flew past McCarthy via a slight deflection off of Maya Yoshida.

I had to check my bearings for a few seconds, but believe it or not, the supporters around me had woken from their Sunday afternoon nap and were actually making some noise... at the Emirates Stadium!

"We'll see you, under the clock!"

Earlier in the first half, the Saints supporters had mocked the home crowd with a chorus of: "Is this a library!?" 

To which a lone comedian in the Clock End had responded: "If it was, you gormless ****s wouldn't be here this afternoon, would you!?

HT: Arsenal 2 v Southampton 1

Arsenal came out for the second half all guns blazing, but MCcarthy thwarted Aubameyang, Granit Xhaka and Alex Iwobi, as the Southampton keeper kept Mark Hughes team in the game.

But after withstanding a flurry of activity around their goal, the Saints grew bolder as the second half unfolded, and Mohamed Elneny was called upon to clear cleared Wesley Hoedt’s header off the line, while moments later and Cech denied Long with an instinctive save. 

The visitors were having a lot of the ball, but needed to freshen things up. Cue the arrival of Charlie Austin from the subs bench, who headed straight for the far side of Cech's six yard box, from where he stepped forward to meet another right wing delivery from Soares and stabbed the ball into the goal, from an unmarked position, with his first touch of the ball.

Welbeck slid towards the visitors goal and missed an absolute sitter of a chance, from a range of no more than a few feet away from the Saints goal line, but he did much better with just nine minutes remaining, when he met Iwobi's cross at the back stick and headed home the last goal of the game.

The secret with Welbeck seems to be: don't create simple chances for him, but give him the sort of goal scoring opportunities that require a degree of difficulty instead.

The game ended in a messy fashion with both teams having players dismissed for separate incidents, as a bit of handbags at ten paces flared up a couple of times. Southampton's Jack Stephens was dismissed, as was Arsenal's Mohamed Elneny. 

There were quite a few people present who thought that Jack Wilshire, who'd come on as a second half sub, might have been shown his marching orders too for his part in the bickering. But Mr Andre Marriner, the match referee had other ideas, so the 'competitive' England midfielder saw the game out... and can probably consider himself fortunate to have done so.

FT: Arsenal 3 v Southampton 2