please log in to view this image Venue: St. Mary's Stadium Date: Sunday 25th May 2025 KO time: 16:00 BST Overall Record Wins: 54 Losses: 23 Draws: 30 Last six meetings Arsenal 3-1 Southampton Arsenal 3-3 Southampton Southampton 1-1 Arsenal Southampton 1-0 Arsenal Arsenal 3-0 Southampton Southampton 1-3 Arsenal please log in to view this image please log in to view this image \ please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Well, that line up is...not what I expected . Feels like a send off to some of the players that are gonna be leaving, but also a chance for fringe players to have their opportunity. Zinchenko, Tierney, Sterling all starting, Nwaneri back in the line-up, Partey at RB...where's Calafiori though? Not even in the matchday squad.
HT. 0-1. Happy for KT to get his goal. He deserves it. He's also put in some delectable crosses in that no-one has got on the end of. We probably could have scored a few goals, but Southampton also could as well. We're committing a lot of men forward and every time Southampton counter or have space to run into, that Kamaldeen Sulemana is causing us loads of issues. Nearly scored at the end of the half as we turned the ball over in their third. Overall, not much jeopardy regardless for both sides, but you can clearly tell there's nothing riding on this. Also, Sterling...what a disastrous loan spell this has been. I know I had low expectations beforehand anyway, but bloody hell, he's been so much worse than even I thought he would. Can't wait until he bugger off back to Chelsea.
1-1. Stewart equalises for Saints. Another goal conceded from a set-piece. Appalling. They've deserved it, though. We've been pretty crap this second half. Weren't great first-half, either, but we were better than this.
FT. 1-2. Nice to end the season with a victory, but a very 'meh' performance. Southampton were clearly playing to end the season on a bit of a high and ensure they didn't break the record for most losses in a PL season. They probably put in enough effort to warrant a result tbh. But as the game got a bit more end-to-end, Odegaard showed his quality. We haven't seen him do that enough this season. But since the PSG away game onwards, seems like he's started to find that ball-striking ability from distance again. We did create a lot of chances, but we were also very vulnerable on the counter. Looked a bit stretched when we had to defend. We didn't play that well even when the big guns came on truth be told. I am hoping that was more down to lacking motivation (due to nothing being on the line), as opposed to genuine struggle, because Southampton didn't have to work super hard to keep us out. We kept playing the ball on the outside and relying on wing play or cutbacks to create chances. And whilst we did enter their box a lot, you get the feeling we needed more variation in terms of central progression and playing between the lines more. They looked quite settled in a 4-5-1/5-4-1 OOP and in a low block up until they felt they could nick a win toward the end of the match. Overall, glad to see the back of this season. The highlights were few and far in between, but 2nd and a CL semi-final is what we have to show for it in the end. My focus is purely on the Summer window now and what we can do to really strengthen this side so that we have no choice but to win trophies.
