Our live stream ahead of Wednesday nights Premier League match, Arsenal v Southampton is now up and running, kicking off at 18.00 GMT.
You can keep an eye on the commentary as it happens below, but first, we take a preview into the fixture, lineups, predictions and much more…
Arsenal fans are still left reeling having been defeated 1-0 by Burnley last week, the first time since 1959 that they have lost four consecutive home games in the league.
Granit Xhaka saw red and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored an own goal to consign Arsenal to defeat at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners now have one win in their last eight Premier League games.
Just five points above the relegation zone, Arsenal go into their 13th match of the campaign sitting 15th in the Premier League table, whereas Southampton climbed into the top four with a comfortable victory over Sheffield United at the weekend.
It is easy to see why the pressure is mounting on the shoulders of Arteta, and another defeat in midweek would only increase those calls for him to be sacked just short of his one-year anniversary of taking over.
Eleven points and 11 places separate Arsenal and Southampton in the Premier League, while at the same stage of last season it was Arsenal sitting sixth and Southampton struggling in 19th.
That is perhaps the best representation of how far the Saints have come in the space of a year or so, but for Arsenal things are looking even worse than they were under Unai Emery.
Sunday’s 3-0 win over Sheffield United means that Southampton have now won seven and lost just one of their last 10 Premier League games – almost the polar opposite of Arsenal’s form heading into this match.
Away from home Southampton have lost just one of their last 11 in the league, although they have not won back-to-back away games since June – something they could achieve here.
The two clubs last met in June, with the Gunners running out 2-0 winners at the Dell…
PRESS CONFERENCE:
Mikel Arteta
on unhappy players in the camp…
Well, I said it many times when you have the squad that we have at the moment, for different circumstances, it’s impossible to have 31 happy players in the camp.
It’s absolutely impossible. I don’t know any club in the world who has that. But obviously when you lose again these things are going to come out again to put more pressure or be disruptive. I’m not interested in any of that.
On whether the players back him…
My feeling is yes but this is a question for them obviously.
Again, when I see the reaction and the way they try there’s not one bit that worries me that they’re not trying their best, that’s for sure.
On the pressure and criticism…
When you’re not getting results at the end of the day it’s the manager who has the maximum responsibility to get them.
This football club is too big to accept this many losses in the past few weeks. My chest is here so hit me guys!
On Xhaka…
It’s been resolved internally and that’s all I can say. He’s not the only player who has had rocky moments.
I know the reason why [he got sent off] and what I cannot do is throw everything away because he made a mistake.
On whether Arsenal are in relegation form…
I would say that we are in a blip and the way we are losing football matches makes me believe that. But we need to start to win, because if not, you start dropping and dropping in the table and obviously that is not the situation that we want to be in.
On the the poor discipline…
Well, we’ve had six red cards since I joined and only two have been discipline – Pepe and Granit. The rest, there have been two late tackles. One with Eddie against Leicester and the one against Palace, which was Auba.
On Lucas Torreira’s situation and whether he’ll come back
We have been dealing with that situation, but again, when the market opens and we have the possibility to bring players in and get players out, whatever we have to do, we will discuss it. I cannot comment on that.
Ralph Hasenhuttl
On Gerard Houllier…
Fantastic football knowledge. He did a great job to help us with some players in RB Leipzig, and it is really sad news that he has gone.
On Team news…
Surprisingly, everyone says they are fit and wants to play again.
This is normal when a team is successful, but so far no injuries. A few tight muscles, but I cannot say how they will feel tomorrow. We have a light session tomorrow.
On Nathan Redmond…
He gives us a fantastic option and we have four good tens to choose from. We will look at how good these guys are and then decide.
Never won in the Premier League at Arsenal. Can you break that?
I remember the last game and we should have won 3-1 or 4-1, but we drew.
I don’t really look at the stats, we are concentrating on a tough game against a strong side.
They played well yesterday and should have been able to win this game, but we know it is tough to win there. We will go there and try to do the best.
On Arsenal’s record…
You can’t take a stat to know how easy or difficult it is.
Even if we are above them in the table, we can’t feel we a real favourite for this game. They are a good side, but perhaps they have been missing scoring goals.
We have to be on the highest level, and we know how tough it will be for us against Arteta’s Arsenal.
On Theo Walcott…
I think he has played there since leaving Arsenal with Everton.
Maybe it is a special game for him, but this is not part of my decision for the game.
Last year at Arsenal…
It was an interesting game. The first game after international break and we changed everything, and played 4-2-2-2 and played a fantastic game.
Since then, we have taken a lot of points in the Premier League and this is the reason you must be careful of any team that is struggling, because you have to be focused and aware of the turnaround.
We have played three games against top-six sides and maybe we were a bit naive against Tottenham and Manchester United, and we must learn from that.
More weapons going to Arsenal?
We always want to be active and we had massive sprints to do. You have to stress the opponent, but against a top six team you must defend like a committed unit as they have so much quality.
They will have chances, but you must defend like Burnley did yesterday to try and keep a clean sheet.
Is the pressure off?
I think to find the right balance is the most important thing and we know you can have self-confidence, but you can have a little bit too much and it ends up in a disaster.
We have definitely learnt to manage a game well. You can’t only work and hunt, you must have possession and we did it well against Man United, but not for long enough.
You need a good bench to add more quality and hopefully, we are better prepared.
Like being the pirates? Do you go there as favourites?
I don’t think anyone expects that we go there and dominate, it would be stupid to think it. I don’t feel the favourites.
We can use that we haven’t won there for 33 years. The mentality must be that we are convinced with what we are doing, but not forgetting about the basics that have got us to where we are now. That is disciplined football in all parts of our game.
What do you make of Arsenal?
This is the problem for all big six teams, winning is normal, losing is a disaster.
I know this, I had this before, and then you have four home games without a win.
I can only say what I have seen. Against Tottenham, they played a lot around the box, but couldn’t score.
Then yesterday, they had a lot of possession, but then a silly red card, a stupid situation.
We go there with self confidence, but hopefully not to be stupid.
Arteta has put emphasis on crosses? How do Southampton approach it?
It is an important tool to stress the opponent. It can stress every opponent, and create some threats.
We have a different system and maybe not so wide, maybe more going through the centre.
But it can be a good tool to use.
Expected goals. Southampton are over-performing? Do you expect this to continue?
I don’t give so much on stats. Last year we had the opposite, with not as many expected goals.
Maybe because we score more often from set pieces, and we have been very successful from that in the recent games.
We care about getting the players in the positions and we don’t concentrate so much on this, it is not the most important part, because it can be about individual quality.
You must be careful what you tell them to do.
FORM:
Arsenal Premier League form: WLDLLL
Arsenal form (all competitions): WLWLWL
Southampton Premier League form: WWDLWW
LINEUPS:
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Leno; Maitland-Niles, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Elneny, Ceballos; Willian, Lacazette, Saka; Aubameyang
Southampton possible starting lineup:
McCarthy; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Bertrand; Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Redmond; Adams, Ings
THATSAGOAL TIP:
Southampton to Win – 21/10 with FanTeam
The Gunners are having a torrid Premier League season. A 1-0 loss to Burnley has left Arsenal in 15th with the fourth-worst goals for record in the division.
Only Liverpool and Chelsea have outscored Southampton so far this season as the Saints climbed into the top four. The return of Danny Ings and the improved form of Che Adams makes them a real threat. The supporting cast has also been chipping in with goals and it would be a surprise to see Arsenal outscore Hssenhutl’s side.
Time to take a look at our Arsenal v Southampton live match stream as it happens…
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