45′ + 2′ HALF-TIME ARSENAL 0-1 SOUTHAMPTON
45′ + 2′ Ings has a shot from outside the area but can’t keep his effort down.
45′ + 1′ There will be two minutes of added time.
45′ Armstrong has space to run into as the Arsenal defence scramble into position. He feeds Ings who just can’t work space to shoot. Walcott is screaming for it on the left and has a shot when the ball is fed into him but it doesn’t trouble Leno.
44′ Arsenal concede a free-kick and Ceballos is booked for his reaction to the decision.
42′ Maitland-Niles releases Pepe down the right wing. His cross is overhit but the hosts gather the loose ball. Ceballos then finds Pepe in the box who draws a solid save from the Saints keeper.
41′ Maitland-Niles gives the ball away but Ceballos spares his blushes. Arsenal have been the better side these last few minutes.
39′ Saka gets to the byline this time and his rifled low cross forces a smart save from McCarthy after it took a deflection off of one of his defenders.
37′ Better from Arsenal. Aubameyang has the ball on the left and cuts it back to Pepe who plays a throughball for Ceballos. The midfielder turns to shoot but falls to the ground as he does and shouts for a penalty. Nothing doing for the man in the middle.
37′ Saka does well to keep the ball in and get a cross into the box from the left but Bednarek does well to header clear.
36′ Tierney’s ball forward is a good one and is gathered by Aubameyang. However, the forward is isolated and concedes a goal-kick under pressure from two Saints defenders.
36′ Only Robin van Persie (46) and Olivier Giroud (40) have scored more PL goals at the Emirates than Theo Walcott (38)
34′ The Gunners work a promising positions but Pepe’s cross from the right is deflected behind Nketiah and the Arsenal man can’t get his foot on the ball.
R. Bertrand
Yellow Card
33′ Bertrand is the next player to be booked.
33′ Ings brings down McCarthy’s clearance on a dime. He feeds Armstrong who has space to run into. The Scotsman picks out Walcott but the Arsenal defence recover.
31′ Southampton win a free-kick in the middle of the park and Ward-Prowse plays it short. Eventually, Bertrand is found in space on the left flank but his attempted delivery is cleared by Holding.
30′ Aubameyang feeds Saka on the left but Walcott times his slide tackle to perfection.
28′ CHANCE! Aubameyang has it on the left and his cut-back rather fortuitously falls for Pepe whose first-time shot is on target but well blocked by Bednarek. The hosts recycle possession and Ceballos flashes an effort from the edge of the area just over the bar.
J. Bednarek
Yellow Card
26′ Bednarek is the first man in the book after a late challenge on Nketiah.
26′ Vestergaard finds Walcott in the box but he can’t bring the ball under control and Saka recovers to emerge with possession.
25′ The visitors are really in the ascendency here. Arsenal’s reaction to going a goal behind has been non-existent.
23′ Walcott does brilliantly well to get into the Arsenal area with the ball at his feet. His attempted cut-back is diverted out for a corner by Gabriel.
21′ It had been a very slow start for Arsenal who will need to buck up their ideas to avoid another defeat.
C. Adams
Assist
18′ It was a perfectly weighted pass from Adams to put Walcott one-on-one with Leno.
T. Walcott
Goal
18′ GOOAAALLLL! WALCOTT SCORES! He’s back to haunt his former team. Arsenal fail to deal with a simple pass into midfield from Vestergaard and Adams pounces on the loose ball to set Walcott through. With just Leno to beat, the ex-Arsenal man kept his composure to chip the keeper and put the Saints ahead.
17′ Ceballos is penalised for a challenge on Walcott. He won the ball but went throught the back of his man to get there and, in today’s game, that’s not allowed.
16′ Saka looks to break up the left and takes on Walker-Peters, but the defender times his challenge perfectly to steal the ball away.
15′ Bertrand seeks out Adams with a long ball over the top. He’s up against Gabriel again and wins a free-kick for the Saints. Ward-Prowse takes and it’s right at the goalkeeper who punched away unconvincingly.
13′ Adams takes a whack from the elbow of Gabriel. It was definitely accidental, but it looked a sore one.
12′ It’s been a pretty scrappy affair so far with neither team able to really impose themselves on their opponent.
10′ Maitland-Niles gets to the byline before being forced to turn back. The Saints steal possession and look to break before Arsenal recover into their shape.
8′ Romeu floats a ball forward for Walcott who has found a pocket of space. The former Arsenal man tees up Ings for a first-time shot but the ball is nicked away just in time.
7′ Southampton get the ball into the box from the resultant free-kick but Arsenal clear the danger.
6′ The 19-year-old is up but is still hobbling around. It looks like his game could be over early.
5′ Saka is down after Adams landed awkwardly on top of the Englishman’s leg.
3′ A long diagonal from Holding finds Saka in acres of space on the left. Walker-Peters recovers to block the winger’s cross.
2′ A loose backpass from Pepe has Holding scrambling at the back. He prods it away from danger into the path of Adams who lashes a volley wide from long range.
1′ Referee Paul Tierney blows his whistle and gets this Premier League clash underway.
The teams are emerging from the tunnel and we’re moments from kick-off.
Arsenal have never lost five consecutive home games in the league but that’s a very real possibility here.
The Saints have a clean bill of health so Hasnehuttl has named an unchanged side from the one that saw off Sheffield United 3-0 in their last outing.
Arteta makes four changes to the side that put in a lacklustre performance against Burnley. Hector Bellerin misses out due to suspension with Maitland-Niles picking up the slack at right-back. In the middle, Granit Xhaka is also suspended after his red card last time out so Ceballos slots in beside Elneny. And at the front, Willian drops to the bench with Pepe recalled into the starting XI after serving his own suspension and Nketiah is preferred ahead of Lacazette. Goal-shy Aubameyang leads the line.
SOUTHAMPTON SUBS: Mohammed Salisu, Ibrahima Diallo, Nathan Redmond, Jack Stephens, Moussa Djenepo, Daniel N’Lundulu, Fraser Forster.
SOUTHAMPTON (4-4-2): Alex McCarthy; Kyle Walker-Peters, Jan Bednarek, Jannik Vestergaard, Ryan Bertrand; Stuart Armstrong, James Ward-Prowse, Oriol Romeu, Theo Walcott; Danny Ings, Che Adams.
ARSENAL SUBS: Runar Alex Runarsson, Cedric Soares, Shkodran Mustafi, David Luiz, Joseph Willock, Willian, Alexandre Lacazette.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Bernd Leno; Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhaes, Kieran Tierney; Mohamed Elneny, Dani Ceballos; Nicolas Pepe, Eddie Nketiah, Bukayo Saka; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Their opponents sit eleven points and eleven places above them. Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Southampton have won seven of their last 10 in the league and have only lost once in their last 11 away from home. With Tottenham and Liverpool in action later, a first away win against Arsenal since 1987 could take them top of the table for a couple of hours.
Things could hardly be more different for the two teams after 12 games. The Gunners come into this midweek clash sitting 15th in the table having picked up just one point from their previous five Premier League fixtures. A 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Burnley last time out drew a chorus of boos from angry supporters so perhaps Mikel Arteta will be secretly thankful that a return to tier three restrictions in London means there will be no fans in attendance this evening.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Premier League meeting between Arsenal and Southampton from the Emirates Stadium.
Dani Ceballos
Yellow Card