Arsenal will be looking confident of getting back to winning ways when rock-bottom Southampton pitch up at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night.
It looked like the Gunners were firing a statement of intent when they romped into a 2-0 lead at Anfield a fortnight ago but they let that lead slip and had to settle for a point.
Mikel Arteta’s men followed that up by surrendering another two-goal lead at West Ham last weekend, with Bukayo Saka’s missed penalty proving costly for both the Gunners.
But with Manchester City in FA Cup semi-final action this weekend, Arsenal have the chance to move seven points clear at the top of the table should they beat Southampton on Friday night.
Speaking ahead of the game, Arteta applauded the Southampton technical team led by Ruben Selles for the “good job” they are doing at the Saints.
“After analysing Southampton in a lot of detail, they have impressed me quite a lot. If you watched the last game that they played, how they lost by the margin they lost, that margin wasn’t there.
“What Ruben and the coaches are doing is really good, and the rewards maybe haven’t been there in terms of the results in some games but they are a really good team,” said Arteta.
Meanwhile, Selles said Southampton are “hurt” by their failure to win games and their precarious position on the log standings.
“We are hurting – all of us. We are just putting in so much to try to change the situation. Every game that goes without a result is hard and we’re hurt, and this is something that we feel.
“People don’t need to misunderstand that everybody, when we lose, feels bad and everybody’s working hard. But the important thing is that the next day you wake up, you come here, we talk about it, we fix the mistakes and then we try to go once again until the very end,” commented Arteta.
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