Arsenal have only scored nine goals in eight away games this season – and five of those came at Everton!

Giroud’s late goal against Southampton added one to the tally, but it’s still a long way off Arsenal’s record at home.

In matches at the Emirates, the Gunners have scored 21 goals in the same number of games.

That’s 2.63 goals per game at home, compared to 1.13 away.

Scoring one-and-a-half fewer goals per game away from home is bad enough, but it gets even worse when you consider that five of those away goals came in one game against Everton.

Four goals in the remaining seven matches is a pretty awful record.

So why are things so different home and away?

Arguably, the Gunners have had more difficult fixtures away from home.

Stoke City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Burnley are all fairly difficult away fixtures to score goals in. Even Watford were on a bit of a high when the Gunners travelled to play them.

But Southampton don’t necessarily fit in the category of teams that are tough to break down at home.

They haven’t kept a clean sheet at St. Mary’s since mid-October, and only have two at home all season. So a very late goal from Giroud shouldn’t be all the Gunners aim for.

Perhaps it’s just that teams are happy to sit back and absorb pressure against Arsenal at home, although this hardly holds true for the top six games. Arsenal’s three-at-the-back system makes it difficult to put any opponents who park the bus under large amounts of pressure.

Whatever the reason, the Gunners need to start scoring a few more goals in the coming matches, starting with West Ham in mid-week.

That will fix everything, right?