Match report – By the numbers – Player ratings – Video

As the game drew to a close last night, and Fraser Forster had just pulled off a fantastic save from Olivier Giroud, I’ll admit I thought the goal was never going to come. I was watching the HFB’s header loop into the top corner, ready to get out of my chair to celebrate (a tricky move with a laptop on your lap), and the big keeper stuck out a hand to keep the ball out.

“It’s one of *those* nights”, I thought. We’ve all seen them. When the opposition keeper, regardless of his talent, ability, or anything else, makes a string of saves which frustrate us. The kind of night when the opposition could put Peter Dinklage in a Stephen Hawking wheelchair and give him a pair of gloves and we’d still not score.

Then, Andre Marriner, a man as suited to refereeing as I am to performing intricate surgery on vital organs, ignored the most obvious penalty since that bloke in that American Football film ran down the field and took out a gun and shot the bloke (I think Bruce Willy was in it), and I thought not only was this going to be one of *those* nights but we’d have the added frustration of being diddled by the man in the middle.

However, Aaron Ramsey kept the ball alive, drilled in a low cross which took a bit of a deflection but that man Alexis was ready and waiting. He’s so good at that if he was at a bus stop for ages and two buses came at once he could catch both of them. From 6 yards he scored his 15th goal of the season and afterwards Arsene Wenger described him as ‘fabulous’. I agree. He couldn’t be more fabulous if he played in a ball-gown, tiara and heels singing James Bond theme songs.

That Southampton had only 10 men on the pitch at that point was unfortunate for them but it’s not something I have any real sympathy about it. We have, from time to time, been known the suffer the effects of injuries so when it happens to another side I’m not going to be Bob Magnanimous. Anyway, despite the fact we didn’t play that well, the bottom line is their keeper was man of the match by a long way and without his exploits we’d have scored well before the 88th minute.

He made a stop from Oxlade-Chamberlain in the first half; put a brilliant hand out to stop a free kick deflecting in just under the bar; saved from Giroud just after he came on; prevented Danny Welbeck from scoring with an outstanding reaction save (great Giroud pass there too); and then there was the header I mentioned above that was heading towards the top corner. Our attacking game wasn’t particularly fluid, especially in the first half, but we still made him earn his corn. And let’s not forget the ones we wasted, like Welbeck from Cazorla’s early pass, Santi’s shot over the bar after lovely build up play, and that time Aaron Ramsey played ‘Let’s see if I can hit a person in the upper tier in the face with the ball’.

It’s worth putting the performance into some context too. We’re not long off a miserable spell when nothing went right, while Southampton have had a very good start to the season. As I touched on yesterday I think they’ve had some kind fixtures, but nor are they up there by accident. They’re a well organised, disciplined unit, with some good players, and they had some moments too. Not least of which came just after Welbeck’s missed chance when Pelle blasted over the bar. Thankfully he was wearing a pair of Santi’s new shooting wellies.

From our point of view the introduction of Olivier Giroud changed the momentum of the game. If there was disenchantment at the removal of Oxlade-Chamberlain I didn’t quite understand it. I like the Ox, and he’s been one of our best players recently, but last night wasn’t his night – even if Ramsey, for example, was more obviously wayward at times. Nevertheless, the manager’s decision was vindicated by Giroud’s impact and the fact that the Welshman got the assist for the game’s only goal.

As the visitors were down to 10 men, the final few minutes weren’t as scary as they might have been. Although I did shake my head at Alexis crossing a free kick in the final minute of injury time when he could have passed to Cazorla and taken the ball to the corner – but then we can’t complain too much about a man who possesses such relentless positivity and who got us the three points just a few minutes beforehand.

Afterwards, Arsene Wenger said:

It was difficult for us to keep going from the start of the game because we’ve given a lot against Dortmund and on Saturday – today was the third game in seven days. You could see that we had to dig deep. We played against a good team who are very well organised and play very quick on the counter-attack. For us it was important not to be exposed on the counter-attack and to keep a clean sheet.

So, that’s three wins out of three for only the second time this season, and we’ve keep three clean sheets in a row too, which is particularly nice. While I still think Szczesny will come back in when he’s fit again, the confident displays of Martinez have been an impressive part of the last three results, and when Ospina is back there’s surely enough there to make the goalkeeping situation as competitive as we’d like it to be. His claim from one free kick in particular was superb. I’ll admit I was thinking ‘Are you sure?’ when he started to come miles for it, but he was, and fair play to him. He’s also benefitted from a more disciplined defensive Arsenal over these last three games, but that’s not to take anything away from his performances.

What we’ve seen against Dortmund, West Brom, and now Southampton, is an Arsenal team that is positionally and, dare I say it, tactically much better than it has been all season. You can rightly ask why it’s taken so long to find this ‘solution’ to our defensive issues, but it’s still a case of better late than never. And while each win will restore some confidence and belief, I hope we don’t forget that this really ought to be the blueprint for how we play. Yes, we love to attack, but without the right balance it can be utterly pointless (literally), so resorting to the cavalier approach of before would be a backwards step.

Now though, we prepare for a very tricky away trip to Stoke. It’s never easy for all the reasons we know about, but hopefully we’ve got enough under our belts to do the necessary and get some payback for what I think was one of the most damaging defeats of last season.

Until tomorrow, Arsecast and all.