Arsenal 3 - Southampton 1 match report: solid but stressful

Today at 12:50 PM

A comfortable win in the end after Arsenal briefly let it get unnecessarily uncomfortable.

Arsenal beat Southampton 3-1 at the Emirates in a match that felt closer than it should have, but in all honesty, wasn't that close. The visitors scoring first created some drama, but the Gunners leveled the score immediately, took the lead 10 minutes later, and secured the points late on. It's cliche but top teams find ways to win when they aren't at their best, and Arsenal were not at their best today. More generally, as long as the club keeps stacking wins with Martin Ødegaard out, I'm happy.

The second half additions of Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli made a huge difference and swung the game. Arsenal looked much more fluid and dangerous with the pair on the pitch, which makes sense given how much more they've played than Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling. Gabriel Jesus is still finding his form. It feels like he's taking one too many touches and his decision-making is a beat too slow. Sterling was better, more involved, and more dangerous, but at the end of the day, he's also taking a bit too long on the ball and not making decisions quickly enough in the final third. Even though they weren't at their best, it's important that Jesus and Sterling get minutes in matches like this. Having them in-form is important — Arsenal will need them at some point this season.

Sterling's day wasn't helped by him being "at fault" if you can call it that for the Southampton goal. He was dispossessed in midfield and the Saints scored on the ensuing break. I thought he was fouled — the challenge was from behind, cut in front of him, caught his leg (I think) and crashed into his body all before touching the ball. It's the kind of call you usually see given, but the referee was on top of it and didn't see anything wrong with the challenge. I don't want to resort to the usual "you've got to be stronger" trope because I'm not sure he can be given his sleight stature and given that the challenge came in unknown and from behind. I suppose after Arsenal were on the right side of William Saliba and Jamie Vardy coming together last weekend ahead of a goal, we can't complain too much about it. Just one of those moments that could go either way and didn't go in Arsenal's favor today.

Arsenal responded almost immediately through Kai Havertz. Bukayo Saka nicked the ball in the middle of the Southampton half and found the German in the middle. Havertz took one touch to the inside and fired home off the inside of the far post from just inside the box. The excellent finish ran Havertz's home scoring streak to seven straight matches in all competitions.

Ten minutes later, Bukayo Saka picked up his second assist of the afternoon with a magnificent cross to Gabriel Martinelli at the back post. You won't see a better cross for a goal all season. And Martinelli did his part, too — timing his run perfectly and putting away the challenging volley. After a lengthy VAR check, the goal was confirmed.

Arsenal got their insurance goal in the 88th minute. Bukayo Saka picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box and gave Aaron Ramsdale no chance, firing back across the keeper's body as he was moving the opposite direction tracking the ball. Just the goal and two assists for the Arsenal winger, running his Premier League season total to two goals and seven assists. Thierry Henry's record of 20 assists in a Premier League season looks very much in danger of falling. Saka will have to pick up his scoring to match Henry's 20-20 mark from that season, however.

Thomas Partey had a solid game filling in at right back. Riccardo Calafiori is an adventure on the left — a fun, almost always positive adventure. From time to time, the Italian will be over-aggressive and get caught out. You'd expect that he'll learn to pick his spots better as he becomes more familiar with the Premier League and Mikel Arteta coaches him up, but some of that risk-reward and danger might be inherent to the way he plays. That's fine. He's an excellent player and his aggression and impetus helps Arsenal much more than it will occasionally hurt.

If not for Bukayo Saka's sparkling match, Kai Havertz would have earned MOTM honors. The German is an indispensable player for the Gunners. He scores goals, presses hard, never stops working, and isn't afraid to mix it up / get stuck in. He and Leandro Trossard have done really well to replicate Martin Ødegaard's contributions thus far.

With the win today, Arsenal became the second side in Premier League history to win 400 home matches. Manchester United were the first club to reach the milestone. The Gunners head into the international break a point behind Liverpool for the top spot in the table and will host the Reds at the end of the month. Liverpool have played a cupcake schedule thus far but have a brutal stretch of matches once the fixtures resume and through early December. We'll have a much better idea if Arne Slot's side is for real in two months.

Arsenal, on the other hand, have played several of their more difficult matches already, and are in a good position in both the Premier League and Champions League tables. The Gunners are unbeaten on the campaign and still aren't firing on all cylinders. Even in the win over PSG, which was an incredibly impressive performance, it felt as if the attack wasn't really clicking.

When Martin Ødegaard got hurt, my hope was that Arsenal would keep their heads above water and stay within striking distance. They've done better than that and should be getting players back after the break. Oleksandr Zinchenko is expected to return. Mikel Merino and Takehiro Tomiyasu will get up to speed after long stretches out of action. My gut is telling me it'll be a bit longer on Ødegaard, but he'll be back at some point in the next month, month-and-a-half.

There really isn't all that much to complain about with Arsenal right now. The club is in a good spot, playing well enough, and have plenty of room to get even better.