My Reactions After - Arsenal vs Southampton (EPL)

Coming back from the break, Arsenal had to start afresh. The win against Saints mollified the painful memories of the defeat inflicted by Manchester United. The win also meant that we were back on track in our title march.

Last season, the Saints were hammered 6-1 when they met Arsenal. But things have changed significantly since, with the current team carrying a record of having conceded the least number of goals in EPL so far.Winning against this team was not going to be easy and we all knew that there was going to be no repeat of that 6-1.

Some good build up play and high pressure from Arsenal in the early minutes almost saw a goal when a Wilshere chip hit the woodwork. Minutes later, a flick from Ramsey almost found its way into the net. Saints were very lucky as they would have found themselves chasing the game by 2 goals with barely 10 minutes played.

Saints couldn't capitalize on their luck for long, as a blunder by their goalie gifted Arsenal the first goal.  Their goalkeeper, Boruc tried to do a Ronaldinho at Giroud and ended up doing a Valdes instead, getting dispossessed and left looking long faced to watch in horror as Giroud put the ball into the back of the net. As easy as they come and it was 1-0 to the Arsenal.

At the other end, Szczesney was alert as ever and made a couple of good saves. First was a well struck shot from lalana and the second was a superb volley from Rodriguez. The first half just petered out with nothing much happening. The comedy of errors by Boruc which lead to the goal was the only major highlight of a rather uneventful first half.

Saints started the second half with a little bit of upper hand in attack, but gradually Arsenal started to take over. At times, it was high pressing end to end entertainment from both the teams. The combination of Saints' solid defence and a lack of incisiveness from Arsenal in the final third was the reason why the game was still 1-0 and not much more in Arsenal's favor.

In the last fifteen minutes, Arsenal got a penalty when Fonte was caught pulling Per’s shirt (it does sound like teacher catching a sleepy student). Soft penalty one could say, but Per's reaction after winning it was anything but soft. Giroud stepped up to take the penalty and promptly scored to make it 2-0.

The score stayed that way till the end of the game and it was yet another clean sheet for Arsenal. Szczesney had a good game, denying Lallana and Rodriguez some goal scoring opportunities. Arsenal had a couple of chances in the dying minutes which were easy to be honest, Ozil and Walcott being the culprits.

Good teams churn out results and bag maximum points even when they are not playing really well. This is exactly what Arsenal did against Southampton. Though it was not champagne football, we were effective and wary enough to capitalize on their errors. Most importantly, we kept our concentration and did not concede. Three points in the bag and Cardiff city up next.

So long Gooners!