Arsenal vs Southampton: Match Preview, Odds & Prediction

On Saturday at the Emirates Stadium, the undefeated home team, Arsenal, will face off against the winless away team, Southampton, in a Premier League match.

One day after PSG were thrashed 3-1 by South Coast rivals Bournemouth, the Gunners returned to top-flight play with a 2-0 Champions League triumph over PSG.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

At the Emirates Stadium in midweek, PSG needed that attacking X-factor, even though they may still prevail domestically in the post-Kylian Mbappe era. Gianluigi Donnarumma's two goalkeeping blunders also helped Arsenal immensely.

Before Bukayo Saka got the better of his penalty rival with a free kick that went past everyone and into the back of the net, the winner of Euro 2020 missed a Leandro Trossard cross, which gave Kai Havertz a chance to continue his scoring run at the Emirates.

Mikel Arteta, usually reserved even after a big win, said it all with his calm and cheerful demeanor at full-time as Arsenal cruised to their third consecutive home win—a considerably more straightforward affair than last weekend's six-goal thriller against Leicester City.

The Gunners are in third place in the league, one point behind Manchester City and Liverpool, thanks to their most recent injury-time spectacular. They have gone 15 games without a loss in all competitions since losing the Champions League to Bayern Munich in April.

Arsenal are on the verge of a significant Premier League milestone, thanks to their late performance against Leicester; a win on Saturday would mark their 400th home Premier League game, a feat already attained by only Manchester United (426).

Southampton travels to the Emirates Stadium with a record-breaking 246 Premier League road losses—the fifth-most in league history—and Russell Martin nearly appeared to accept his destiny in Southampton's most recent road setback as Arsenal approaches that top-flight benchmark.

Saints were thrashed in the first half by Bournemouth, their South Coast equivalents. Antoine Semenyo, Dango Ouattara, and Evanilson scored for Bournemouth. Taylor Harwood-Bellis scored for the Saints early in the second half, but Martin had no miraculous comeback.

It is rumored that the club has yet to reach a unified decision over the future of the under-fire Martin, who is still supported by some quarters. Southampton are only saved from relegation by Wolverhampton Wanderers' marginally lower goal differential.

Although the promotion-winning manager is on the verge of losing his job due to an embarrassing performance at the Emirates, he should focus on being more aggressive in attack in preparation for Saturday's match. The Saints' 4.4% conversion rate is the poorest in the 2024–25 Premier League.

While the traveling supporters can take heart from their team's three-game winning streak against Arsenal—a team that famously needed a comeback in 2023 to draw 3-3 with Southampton in this match—the Saints hadn't beaten the Gunners on the road since 1987, when Highbury was still in their heyday.

Arsenal x Southampton Team News

With Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf), Kieran Tierney (hamstring), and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) all out for Arteta this weekend and fresh worries around Ben White (groin) plus Jurrien Timber (muscle), the whole back situation is not looking good.

The second one didn't last long—it was only until halftime in the victory over PSG that Mikel Merino made his debut coming off the bench after suffering an unusual shoulder fracture; this weekend, he'll be looking to get his maiden start against Thomas Partey.

The home team still needs captain Martin Odegaard (ankle). Still, his deputy, Mathieu Havertz, is looking to make history at the Emirates, where he has not scored in five consecutive Premier League games since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2019.

The defensive woes didn't stop with Arsenal on Tuesday; Saints defender Jack Stephens, already suspended for five games for profanity following his red card against Manchester United, received an additional two games' ban.

However, Gavin Bazunu (Achilles) and Kamaldeen Sulemana (ankle) are still not in the running, while Will Smallbone's chances of recovering from his thigh injury in time for the North London trip are limited.

Former Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale will join eight other goalies who have played against Arsenal in the Premier League; however, only Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa in 2020 managed to keep a scoreless record in his debut match against Arsenal.

Our predictions

Arsenal to win and over 3.5 goals @ 1.97 on Sky247.ng

As the toothless Saints can attest, they are no match for Arsenal's rock-solid defense, and any Gooner who was there during the conclusion of Arsene Wenger's tenure will attest to the fact that possession is frequently meaningless in the Premier League.

Martin's men may hold the hosts at bay for a while, but Arteta's rampant crop will surely burst through at some point, and goals might start flowing after that.

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