April 16, (THEWILL) – At St Mary’s on Saturday, goalkeeper Fraser Forster’s heroics secured Southampton a 1-0 victory over a disappointed Arsenal.
Mohamed Elyounoussi recycled the ball back into the penalty area after a Southampton set-piece allowing Jan Bednarek to thump home the improbable match winner for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side.
Both sides were ‘hurting,’ according to Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, and they delivered a quick sample of the lack of confidence ailing both squads shortly after a quarter of an hour.
Eddie Nketiah, Arsenal’s frontman for the day, pounced on Jan Valery’s sloppy lateral roll, moving the ball to Gabriel Martinelli, who found Bukayo Saka in front of goal. Saka’s hesitant, weak-footed prod was stunningly turned away by Forster with a virtually fully unprotected net to aim at.
Bednarek slammed Southampton in ahead in the final minute of a lethargic first half in which the visitors had plenty of possession but no penetration.
Elyounoussi, a Norwegian midfielder, caught Arsenal’s defence off guard when he hooked the ball back from the byline into the path of his centre-back, who was still up from the set piece to score.
Southampton switched into a 5-4-1 formation off the ball with a lead to sit on, frustrating an Arsenal side that now has two goals in their previous five games.
Arteta moved his team into a back-three in the last half-hour in an attempt to upset their hosts, putting on attacking midfielder Emile Smith-Rowe for defender Cedric Soares.
Smith-Rowe had the best chance of the second half, but the inspired Forster clawed his mis-hit volley off the goal line after 73 minutes.
Arsenal racked up the efforts with an ever-increasing domination of possession, but were thwarted by Forster on the rare occasions they got an unimpeded view of goal.
Arsenal have taken just four points after going behind this season. They head to Stamford Bridge in midweek for a critical London derby with Chelsea – and then face Manchester United the following weekend – while Saints travel to Burnley on Thursday in the hopes of finishing in the top half of the table.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
