Arsenal 3-3 Southampton: Arsenal escaped an extremely painful home defeat against Southampton on Friday evening. In the final phase of the game, the leader made up a 1-3 deficit: 3-3. That was celebrated, but not to the maximum. After all, in the blood-curdling title battle with Manchester City, the upcoming opponent, Arsenal suffered another loss of points.
Arsenal catch-up race comes too late: painful slip towards clash with City
Arsenal have been at the top of the Premier League uninterruptedly since the end of December and supporters are dreaming of their first league title since 2004. However, as the final phase of the season approaches, championship stress is starting to mount. Arsenal already played a draw against Liverpool (2-2) and West Ham United (2-2) before this, so that Manchester City crept closer. And on Friday evening, Arsenal again failed to grab the three points.
For Arsenal it went wrong within half a minute on Friday. Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale just slid the ball into the feet of Carlos Alcaraz during the build-up, who mercilessly punished this bumbling. The same Alcaraz was the declarant in Theo Walcott’s 0-2 fifteen minutes later. The attacker scored against his old club and decided not to cheer.
This Wednesday, City and Arsenal face each other
Gabriel Martinelli’s connection goal soon fell, after which Arsenal could start the hunt for the 2-2. The home team had a lot of possession and tried everything, but couldn’t get the equalizer on the board. More than twenty minutes into the second half, Southampton restored its margin of two, via a striking header from a corner by Duje Caleta-Car.
Arsenal did not give up. Martin Ødegaard shot the 2-3 against the ropes three minutes before the end of regular time and Bukayo Saka equalized shortly afterwards. The game was given no less than eight minutes of stoppage time, which left Arsenal hoping for more. It didn’t get that, despite a good chance for Reiss Nelson and a cry for a penalty kick.
The draw means that Arsenal is no longer the team with the fewest points loss in the Premier League. Mikel Arteta’s team has five points more than Manchester City, which, however, still has two games in hand. This Wednesday, City and Arsenal face each other at the Etihad Stadium
