Arsenal managed to somewhat reluctantly register a much-needed win against Southampton on Wednesday night.

A win for Arsenal against Southampton would put them above Manchester United and put the pressure on City in fourth place.

The match started tentatively enough with both sides getting forward but not really creating much. In fact, fans seemed more focused on the odd swirly pattern on the St. Mary’s pitch than the game itself.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain seemed eager to impress, making plenty of decisive runs in from the right and skipping past players.

The 23-year-old almost supplied Aaron Ramsey in the 15th minute with a lovely cross but the Welshman put what ended up being the best Arsenal chance of the first half wide.

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Five minutes later, the Ox, who was having another brilliant game, had his own shot blocked.

Other than the Ox, the first half was pretty sedate.

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Southampton had another good chance on the half-hour mark after Arsenal’s defence, typically, got confused. However, Shkondran Mustafi bailed the Gunners out with a clearance.

Arsenal’s only real bright spark – the Ox – went down injured 10 minutes before the break to receive treat and was subsequently subbed off for Hector Bellerin.

As Southampton got forward more, their confidence grew and they were the better team at the break, having seven shots (two on target) to Arsenal’s six (one on target).

Petr Cech, meanwhile, had made two brilliant saves and one claim.

 

The second half started similarly to the first. Both teams were getting chances but neither were doing anything with them.

Rambo got in the way of a Bellerin cross intended for Alexis Sanchez, which the Chilean, who was anonymous again for most of the game, was pretty annoyed about.

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However, as Alexis has shown numerous times this season, he can produce something out of thin air and, sure enough, minutes later, he combined beautifully with Mesut Ozil to produce an absolutely stunning goal after Granit Xhaka made a brilliant pass forward.

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Arsenal continued to threaten throughout the first half. However, without any real intensity until a certain Frenchman strutted onto the pitch.

Within minutes of setting foot on that weird, swirly pitch, Olivier Giroud doubled Arsenal’s lead with a brilliant header.

The Gunners climb to fifth in the table; one point above Manchester United in sixth and three behind City in fourth.

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