Southampton hosted Arsenal this Sunday at the St. Mary’s Stadium for Matchweek 17 in the Premier League. The Saints are battling against relegation, and Danny Ings and Charlie Austin stepped up to give the hosts the success over Arsenal, who went to the nets twice through Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The Gunners started the match in a frantic pace, and they should have opened the scoring, yet they squandered numerous chances. At the twentieth the Saints made the Gunners lament the squandered shots, as Matt Targett’s cross from the left discovered Ings, who headed home the opener for the hosts. 1-0 Southampton.
At the 28th, Arsenal reacted through Mkhitaryan. Nacho Monreal’s cross found the Armenian who finished home the equalizer. 1-1.
Very nearly the break, Southampton recovered the lead, as Arsenal guard neglected to clear a cross from Nathan Redmond, and the ball wound up with Ings, who headed home a looping ball into the top corner of Bernd Leno. 2-1 Southampton.
After the break, the Gunners returned better, and at the 53rd, they leveled things up once more. Mkhitaryan looted the ball from Oriol Romeu, and opened home from the edge of the area, with a vital deflection from Jannik Vestergaard. 2-2.
The Gunners tossed themselves at Southampton, and were nearer from the winner, and yet, they were surrendering some perilous counter-attacks.
At the 85th, the Saints had a counter-attack, and a cross from the right discovered Austin, who just nodded into the unfilled nets, after an awful howler from Leno. 3-2 Southampton.
Following the valiant triumph over Arsenal, Southampton climbed to the seventeenth place, as the Gunners are as yet the fifth. The Gunners are back in action on Wednesday, for the Quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, as they will confront their London rivals, Tottenham. Southampton’s next game is on Saturday, at Huddersfield.