Fraser Forster put up a spectacular performance to help Southampton produce one of the narrow football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. After Tottenham’s loss to Brighton, Arsenal knew a win would take them level on points with their North London rivals. Southampton took the lead in the 44th minute before Forster pulled off three world-class saves to deny Arsenal an equalizer.
Player ratings:
Southampton: Forster (9), Valery (7), Bednarek (8), Lyanco (7), Walker-Peters (7), Romeu (7), Ward-Prowse (7), Perraud (7), S.Armstrong (7), Elyounoussi (7), Broja (6).
Subs: Livramento (n/a), Redmond (n/a), Long (n/a).
Arsenal: Ramsdale (6), White (6), Gabriel (6), Saka (6), Odegaard (6), Cedric (5), Tavares (6), Sambi Lokonga (6), Nketiah (6), Xhaka (6), Martinelli (6).
Subs: Smith Rowe (6), Pepe (6),
Man of the match: Fraser Forster
Managers Reaction
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta: “It is difficult to explain because this is football, not basketball. In any other sport, you win the game very comfortably. At the end of the day it’s decided in the boxes, they scored one goal, we didn’t for that amount of time we spent around the box, the clear-cut chances we had, we didn’t put them in the goal because they have an exceptional goal have an exceptional goalkeeper today, and because we didn’t have enough quality to break them down.”
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl: “We knew that it was time to show a reaction. And to show that we also can play a little bit different. Today was a different game; under 30 percent possession, I don’t think we’ve ever had in this season so far. We didn’t want to give them a chance for an early ball in. We wanted to be compact. We wanted to minimize the mistakes we’ve made in recent weeks because you have to when you concede 13 goals in four games. You have to change things. This is what we did today. I know that we can play more football, I know that we can play better.”
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