The Nigerian International and Arsenal midfielder, Alex Iwobi, was an unused substitute for Arsenal in Sunday’s premier league game, against Southampton in St. Mary’s Stadium, England.
For the second successive week, Arsenal has had their defence penetrated with little stress in the starting minutes of the match. Though rescued by Oliver Giroud with a sleight of hand, the Gunners ended the game against Southampton in a 1-1 stalemate.
Charlie Austin, who recently got a starting position at Southampton, opened the scoreboard with a goal in the 3rd minute off Dusan Tadic’s pass.
It is possible that Arsenal’s game against Manchester City last week demoralized the defensive spirit of the Gunners. Both matches had a lot of statistical similarities, with Arsenal dominating with almost more than 70% throughout the match up against Southampton, but still couldn’t finish on any chances they got.
Southampton’s Charlie Austin had the most chances of the game as he could have quadrupled his goal if he didn’t miss out on his openings.
Arsene Wenger admitted to Telegraph.co.uk that the problem may have been psychological. “I felt that the Manchester United game played a bit of a part in the heads of our defenders,” he said.
“They were a bit apprehensive to start. That’s why sometimes it’s not too good to talk about a problem because you create an even bigger one,” he added.
Despite having the ball for the most part of the game, they fell too short and underperformed greatly, leaving Southampton to throb their side of the court continuously looking for the goal. Nevertheless, the Gunners did not concede another and in the 88th minute, Arsenal pulled a last-minute comeback with a goal from substitute Giroud who headed in Sanchez’s cross.
The draw tipped Arsenal to 5th on 29 points in the league table, while Southampton is 11th on 18 points.
