Southampton draw at home against Bournemouth after Arter missed penalty
Harry Arter watched three points sail over the goal after a missed penalty attempt. The result of this catastrophic event cost Bournemouth the victory in a game that ended in a 0-0 draw at Southampton.
The Saints’ Dusan Tadic seemed to be the spark at the beginning of the match. After reports came out about the disputes between him and manager Claude Puel regarding playing time, Tadic appeared to have a point to make.
He found himself with many chances throughout the beginning of the match, including the first opportunity of the game in the fourth minute, but his left-footed shot went high and wide.
Bournemouth had a response later in the first half when midfielder Dan Gosling had a shot from similar territory in the 29th minute. He found his shot punched away by goalkeeper Fraser Forster’s strong hands.
Not long after this occurrence, Southampton found themselves in a scare of events, when Steven Davis was forced to clear the ball from his own line after Andrew Surman hit the ball beyond Forster, nearly finding its way into the goal.
There was a consistent amount of build-up play between both teams from that point-on.
Right after halftime, there was a promising opportunity for Southampton, as Cedric created space for him to find Tadic at the top of the opposing box. He had an attempt on goal, only to see that opportunity curl wide of the left post.
Southampton’s Jay Rodriguez was the next to find a potential scoring opportunity, as Tadic played a clever ball over the Bournemouth defense. Rodriguez, however, found his shot saved by a diving Artur Boruc.
Bournemouth then responded with Benik Afobe finding exceptional space due to a through ball by Joshua King, this opportunity however, dissipated due to Afobe’s shot being nearly wide of the post.
The ball was back to Southampton, as Nathan Redmond got more active towards the end of the game. The 23-year-old ran through the midfield and had a long-range shot in an effort to test the keeper. This shot resulted in a rebound off Boruc, landing at the feet of Ward-Prowse, who sent the ball wide-left leaving both sides remaining scoreless.
This event caused Claude Puel to make an adjustment to the line-up replacing Jay Rodriguez and James Ward-Prowse with Sofiane Boufal and Shane Long, respectively. It was easy to see the effects of this substitution shortly after, as Shane Long missed just wide of the goal after a beautiful pass from Tadic.
It was then Bournemouth’s turn to make a change in the line-up. Bournemouth replaced King with Jack Wilshere, who also found early success on the pitch. A shot from Adam Smith saw the rebound land at the feet of Wilshere, who’s shot struck the post and eventually was cleared out.
In the 79th minute of the match, the fate could have been sealed for Southampton. Ryan Bertrand appeared to have been unfortunately penalized for grabbing the jersey of Ryan Fraser, who went down much too easily. The penalty was awarded late by referee Jonathan Moss.
The nerved Saints fans sat back awaiting their fate as Harry Artur stepped up to the penalty spot. It seemed to be the writing on the wall that this would be the demise of Southampton. As Artur stepped up to the ball, he appeared to have lost his footing, allowing the ball to sky over the crossbar.
This turn of events allowed the game to end in a 0-0 draw. This result allowed both teams to stay at their respective spots in the Premier League table with Southampton in 10th place, and Bournemouth in 11th place.