Southampton vs Arsenal

Arsenal will be looking to get their stuttering Premier League top-four pursuit back on track when they take on bottom-half Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium.

Southampton harboured realistic hopes of landing a first top-half Premier League finish since 2016/17 at the beginning of March. Fast forward five league matches (D1, L4), the ‘Saints’ have slipped to 14th and go into this matchday on the back of a humiliating 6-0 home loss to Chelsea. Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men have lost their last two Premier League home meetings with Arsenal by a two-goal margin, as many defeats as they had in their previous ten top-flight H2Hs at St Mary’s (W4, D4). Another frustrating weekend is seemingly on the cards. Indeed, Southampton have conceded a staggering ten goals across their last three Premier League home outings, as many as in their previous 13 at St Mary’s combined this season. It’s also worth noting that they netted just twice across those three matches.

On the other hand, Arsenal succumbed to a crushing 2-1 home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion last time out, their third reverse in four Premier League fixtures (W1) and second in a row. With fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur now three points clear, the ‘Gunners’ can ill-afford another slip-up, especially against a side they’ve lost to only once in their last 12 Premier League H2Hs (W7, D4). Following a comprehensive 3-0 win in the reverse fixture at the Emirates, Arsenal could complete their first Premier League double over Southampton since 2016/17. Despite conceding first in seven of their last 11 top-flight H2Hs, Mikel Arteta’s men have only lost one such fixture (W3, D3). The clean-sheet theme has highlighted Arsenal’s recent away matches, as six of their last seven competitive away contests have seen one or both sides fail to get on the scoresheet.