Saints Marching
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Arsenal vs. Southampton: Saints face tough task against Gunners

By Chris Hughes

COVENTRY, ENGLAND - JANUARY 06: Mark Hughes, Manager of Stoke City reacts during The Emirates FA Cup Third Round match between Coventry City and Stoke City at Ricoh Arena on January 6, 2018 in Coventry, England. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
COVENTRY, ENGLAND - JANUARY 06: Mark Hughes, Manager of Stoke City reacts during The Emirates FA Cup Third Round match between Coventry City and Stoke City at Ricoh Arena on January 6, 2018 in Coventry, England. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images) /
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On Sunday lunch Southampton will face a resilient Arsenal side at the Emirates Stadium, with the Saints desperate to pick up points and avoid relegation.

With their easier set of fixtures behind them, the Saints now face the near-impossible task of picking up points against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea in order to survive in the Premier League.

The Gunners come into the game off the back of two victories in less than a week, having eventually broken down Stoke whilst also winning the Europa League in midweek. The Saints meanwhile were comfortably beaten by relegation rivals West Ham last Saturday in one of their worst performances of the season.

Southampton have however been relatively successful against Arsenal in recent seasons, including drawing 1-1 at the tail end of last year in the reverse fixture at St. Mary’s.

As commented on in Opposing Fan’s View, the Gunners don’t have a huge amount left to play for in the league, sitting 16 points behind Tottenham in fourth and therefore their focus will be more on the Europa League.

The Saints meanwhile are three points adrift of safety despite having games in hand, only adding to the pressure tomorrow.

LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 05: Alexandre Lacazette of Arsenal celebrates scoring the second goal from the penalty spot during the UEFA Europa League quarter final first leg match between Arsenal FC and CSKA Moskva at Emirates Stadium on April 5, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images,)
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 05: Alexandre Lacazette of Arsenal celebrates scoring the second goal from the penalty spot during the UEFA Europa League quarter final first leg match between Arsenal FC and CSKA Moskva at Emirates Stadium on April 5, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images,) /

Why Arsenal will win

At the end of the day, the Gunners will go into the game tomorrow as favourites, despite being without Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

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Wenger’s side have won five on the bounce in all competitions meaning they are in a rich vein of form, despite their league position.

In Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the London side have a striker who is both incredibly fast and proficient in the air, something which has been known to cause the Saints’ defence problems this season.

Why Southampton will win

The Saints, as previously mentioned, have a decent record against the Gunners in the past couple of years – in addition to this, only Sir Alex Ferguson has more wins against Wenger’s Arsenal than Mark Hughes, who has beat the Frenchman on nine occasions.

Southampton may also show a different side to their game than against ‘weaker opposition’, as they’ll have less to lose than in a six-pointer like against West Ham.

Predicted Line-ups

Arsenal:

Goalkeeper: Petr Cech

Defence: Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Callum Chambers, Nacho Monreal

Midfielders: Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil, Alex Iwobi

Striker: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Southampton:

Goalkeeper: Alex McCarthy

Defence: Ryan Bertrand, Maya Yoshida, Jack Stephens, Cedric

Midfielders: Nathan Redmond, Oriol Romeu, Mario Lemina, Sofiane Boufal

Strikers: Manolo Gabbiadini, Charlie Austin

Prediction:

Arsenal 2-1 Southampton

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