Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl says they’ll travel to the Emirates Stadium with confidence, but suggests Arsenal can still hurt them.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl are experiencing strongly contrasting fortunes at the moment.

Hasenhuttl had his team up in the top four and just two points off the top of the table before the latest round of fixtures got underway this evening, whilst Arsenal languish down in 15th place.

The Austrian manager suggested he sympathises with Arteta, particularly after watching Arsenal’s recent matches.

“This is the problem for all the managers of big six teams, winning is normal, losing is a disaster,” Hasenhuttl said. “I can only say what I have seen. Against Tottenham, they played a lot around the box like handball, but couldn’t score.

“Then yesterday, it was nearly the same against a side they normally have to win [against], and they had a lot of possession and chances to win this game, but they come up against a good goalkeeper, and then a silly red card, a stupid situation.”

However, given the respective positions of the two clubs, Hasenhuttl admits they’ll go into the game feeling confident about their chances to get a result.

“They [Arsenal] have players who can hurt you, but we go there with self-confidence,” Hasenhuttl continued. “But hopefully not with the self-confidence to make us stupid.”

It’s hard to deny Southampton should be feeling confident right now. It’s up to Arsenal to try and get a long-awaited home league win and put themselves back on the right track.

Whilst the run of defeats goes on, their opponents will undoubtedly feel optimistic.