Match date: 3 December 2014

In a way, this was a huge test for both sides. Southampton just came off a loss against Manchester City and with Manchester United following this fixture, it is a period in the season that could really determine Southampton’s state in the English Premier League.

Arsenal, however, needed to win against a traditionally lesser side that is now above them in the league table and did so by playing similar football to Arsenal.

Wenger set out Arsenal in a 4-1-4-1, with Koscielny back in the side as well as Flamini. Welbeck played at centre forward, meaning that Giroud had to start the match on the bench.

Southampton had close to their best XI on the pitch. Koeman was without Schneiderlin, so Jack Cork took his place alongside Wanyama in a 4-2-3-1.

Southampton Look the Part

Coming into the match, Southampton were third in the Premier League and six points above Arsenal. During the first half, they certainly looked like a side that deserved it. Their play was intelligent and quick and their attacks looked much better than Arsenal’s, who were lacking control and any real consistent invention from the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Cazorla.

The best bits of Southampton’s play was their one touch passing and one-twos from the centre of the field into the wide areas, with Tadic and Long getting on the ball often in the first half. However, is the combination of Pelle and Davis that was the most often for Southampton. The Saints looked to work the ball into Pelle, who often positioned himself in front of Koscielny rather than Mertesacker, as the German could have bullied the striker a bit more. Once Pelle received, he would usually look to play the ball back to Davis, who continued the attacks well. Southampton played good, attractive football, but when Arsenal pressed high or managed to deal with Southampton’s good midfield rotation, they were unafraid of hitting more direct balls to Pelle, who won a good amount of his aerial challenges, especially against Koscielny. Below you can see the top two passing combinations for the Saints in the match; Pelle to Davis and Fraser to Pelle.

Despite all of their good play, Southampton failed to create many chances and really test Martinez. Their best chance came from a combination between Pelle and Davis that saw Pelle (who was offside) shoot well over the bar. While this was the desired combination for Southampton, much of their play was in the wide areas through Tadic, Long, Clyne, and Bertrand. However, once Southampton worked the ball into the wide areas, there was very little created. Crosses were woeful and struggled to beat the first man as they were often sent in only after Mertesacker and Koscielny were settled and able to freely attack the deliveries and Martinez was very good at coming off his line to claim float balls.

To support their decent attacking play was the ability to win back the ball quickly. Under Pochettino last year, Southampton became one of the best pressing sides in the Premier League and they showed a good ability in continuing that in this match. Arsenal struggled for large periods of the match with Alexis Sanchez and Oxlade-Chamberlain forced to drop deeper to help Arsenal try to play around Southampton’s pressing, which left Welbeck isolated and ineffective as a forward outlet. In fact, Southampton’s only shot on target was the result of their pressing. Near the end of the first half, Wanyama outmuscled Alexis Sanchez well within Arsenal’s half, laid the ball off to Pelle, who had his shot deflected into the hands of Martinez.

Arsenal’s Second Half

There were two noticeable differences in how Arsenal started the second half. The first was how the front three lined up. In the first half, Welbeck was the central striker with Alexis Sanchez and Oxlade-Chamberlain on either side of him. However, at the start of the second half, Welbeck shifted to a wide left position, which he drifted into anyway during the first half, and Sanchez was in the central striking role. There are a few reasons that Wenger might have done this. The first is that a majority of Sanchez’s goals for Arsenal have been scored in and around the six yard box and from a central area, so obviously moving him into a position where he is more likely to get into those positions is beneficial. Sanchez’s winning goal was scored in this exact area, although it had less to do about Sanchez than it did Giroud. The second reason for Wenger may have been to allow Sanchez a little bit of rest, which seems more likely as Welbeck and Sanchez changed back over fairly soon. It made sense to do, however, as Sanchez had been covering a huge amount of distance when Arsenal didn’t have the ball.

The second, and more significant change, was Wenger’s move to prevent Pelle and Davis from continuing to combine in Arsenal’s half. Interestingly, rather than have Flamini mark Davis, Wenger instead had Flamini get into front of Pelle to cut off the passing lanes. This allowed Davis to have space, but it was deeper and less effective without Pelle’s knock downs and lay offs and if Flamini had simply marked Davis, it would have allowed Pelle to hold the ball up and find someone like Wanyama or Alderweireld making a run from midfield or Long or Tadic making runs in behind. Below you can see Flamini checking over his shoulder to make sure that Pelle is still blocked off.

Giroud In, Arsenal Win

Giroud came on in the 65th minute for Oxlade-Chamberlain, who failed to have an impact on the match despite being in good form. With the change, Welbeck again moved into a wide left position, but continued to drift inside, which allowed Arsenal to now occupy both Fonte and Yoshida with strikers and allow late midfield runs into the box to become more effective.

Giroud’s impact was almost immediate as Sanchez found him with an excellent ball over Fonte, but Giroud’s well struck effort was saved by Forster. Forster later saved another goal bound effort from a Giroud header. However, the Frenchman’s introduction was not solely about adding a striker that could score goals, it was more about giving Arsenal the option to play more direct, a Plan B to their intricate passing that had struggled to open up Southampton for much of the match. Giroud was able to win headers over both Fonte and Yoshida as well as dropping into midfield to win 50/50 duals over Wanyama, who had not been great in the air prior to Giroud’s introduction, but had physically outdone Arsenal in midfield throughout.

For the winner, Giroud was largely involved. Chambers put a cross in and Giroud was able to occupy both Yoshida and Fonte in a challenge for the ball only for it to fall to Ramsey, who pulled the ball back to Sanchez, who was unmarked inside the six yard box. Without Giroud’s presence, one of Yoshida or Fonte could have very well been in position to cut off Ramsey’s pass or could have marked Sanchez, but instead, they were more concerned about Giroud’s aerial presence and it opened up space.

Conclusion

The win for Arsenal brings them up to 23 points in the Premier League and, while they are still three points behind Southampton, it was a game that they needed to win. Giroud’s introduction was the significant change for Wenger and it will be interesting, considering the impact he has had from the bench and the type of player that he is, where Giroud features in Wenger’s plans in the immediate future.

Southampton will feel slightly hard done by this loss. They were forced down to ten men due to an injury to Alderweireld prior to the goal, having used all of their substitutions. The broader picture, however, looks worse for Southampton as they again fail to win against a traditionally ‘bigger’ side, with losses against Liverpool, Tottenham, and Manchester City happening earlier in the season.