Arsenal vs Southampton (16/17)

Team news:
Arsenal: Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi could make his debut, with fellow new signing Lucas Perez also available. Alexis Sanchez will be assessed on his return from international action, while Per Mertesacker, Gabriel and Aaron Ramsey are out but Alex Iwobi is fit.

Southampton: Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster is available despite withdrawing from England duty with an arm injury. Left-back Ryan Bertrand could make his comeback from a knee problem, but Jeremy Pied remains sidelined. Sofiane Boufal, who joined Saints for a club-record fee recently, may have to wait up to a month for his debut as he regains fitness following a long-term knee injury.


MANAGER
Claude Puel is still searching for his first Premier League victory with Southampton, but the Frenchman was an intriguing choice to replace  Ronald Koeman, and his appointment should reap rewards in the long-term.

Puel has more than 15 years’ experience in Ligue 1 with Monaco, Lille, Lyon and Nice, developing a reputation for playing structured attacking football and bringing through plenty of youngsters – which fits nicely with Southampton’s approach.

FORMATION
Puel often favoured the use of a diamond midfield in France, and has stuck to that approach since taking charge of Southampton. It’s unusual to see that formation in the Premier League, and asks a lot of the two full-backs, although both right-sided Cedric Soares and left-back Ryan Bertrand are both very competent going forward.

Oriol Romeu remains in a defensive-minded position just in front of the back four, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in close attendance to his right. Steven Davis shuttles forward into attack to the left, while Dusan Tadic plays at the top of the diamond, but hasn’t been particularly influential so far.

Winger Nathan Redmond has been redeployed as a centre forward, and makes clever runs on the outside of opposition centre-backs. Shane Long is also intelligent in terms of movement, with Charlie Austin offering a more traditional centre-forward option, and Jay Rodriguez back in contention after a two-year injury nightmare.

STRENGTHS
Southampton have proved particularly good at keeping possession so far this season - only Manchester City and Chelsea have seen more of the ball. Romeu and Hojbjerg deserve much of the credit for ensuring they dominate games, both recording pass completion rates of around 90 per cent for the 1-1 draw with Sunderland last time out.

AREAS TO TARGET
The diamond formation means Southampton lack width, and with their full-backs forced to push forward, they can be caught out by speedy counter-attacks into the wide areas. Alexis and Theo Walcott could be licking their lips, and while Arsenal might see less of the ball than usual, they should be afforded space to break into.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160906/scouting-report-arsenal-v-southampton

Great work Urban

Last season both games against Southampton were so frustrating, and I believe that away loss really cost us a great chance at the tittle.

Puel vs Wenger should be fun to watch.

Southampton aren't quite as physically imposing now that Wanyama, Mane and Pelle are all gone, and structually I think they're a weaker team currently than they were under Koeman. They're still adapting to the diamond and I hope we'll be able to expose them down the sides.

My main worry is that Wenger will find an excuse to start Coquelin, and we'll see our build-up suffer for a good 70 mins before he takes him off. Against a team that will likely sit deep, this is a good chance to see if Xhaka-Cazorla can help speed up our build-up.

Hopefully we see:

Cech; Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Cazorla, Xhaka; Walcott, Ozil, Alexis; Giroud

Worth starting Iwobi over Sanchez. Need Sanchez for PSG.

I am not too worried about Southampton compared to last season due to the reasons Jay mentioned.

But post international is always difficult. Giroud has had 2 matches under his belt so that's good. Perez will be firing to go too. Walcott is in good form so he has to start.

Not really sure training pics means a lot but Xhaka wearing a blue bib while Ozil, Giroud, Cazorla and Coquelin wearing orange

Xhaka is a blue eyed boy.

Apparently both Mustafi and Lucas start today.

Think Alexis will be rested as well, and I'm personally expecting Coquelin over Xhaka

I mean I like Coquelin but Wenger's love for him is something else entirely

Excited to see Lucas Perez though.

I think all of us have a soft spot for Coquelin given his unexpected renaissance but when he's played as anything but a pure defensive mid, you realize how average he is in other aspects of his game

XhakÖzorla please.

RealGunner wrote:Not really sure training pics means a lot but Xhaka wearing a blue bib while Ozil, Giroud, Cazorla and Coquelin wearing orange

Not sure if this helps ( probably doesn't ) but i know for us that it means absolutely *bleep* all lol.

FFS MADE ALEXIS MY FPL CAPTAIN GODDAMIT DONT DO THIS TO ME NOT TODAY

Yea lol training pics delivered. Xhaka rested.

What a joke ffs. Okay, Xhaka gets rested for PSG. Why not play Elneny? Why do we persist with a guy who's shit at passing in midfield.

I don't understand why Xhaka needs to be rested more than say Özil or Koscielny

Let's hope it works well enough.

A lot of rumours (baseless tho) that Arsene's 1st choice is Coquelin

dislike that

Very dangerous foul for a FK... Mediocre game so far.

Oh. my. frakking...

Cech my main man, FFS.

Southampton ahead and rightly so, we started half asleep

We have no pace whatsoever.. unbelievable.. Took me a bit to realize it was the Emirates ffs

Dead crowd should just kill itself

Awful. Sluggish in everything we do. Team looks like it has no idea what it's doing.

Meanwhile, two players who can circulate the ball well sit on the bench. But you know, we need to rest players for PSG.

Southampton are bossing the game and there is so pressing whatsoever

These bastards can't be arsed for *bleep* to play for the club.

Complascent. Overconfident. Shambles.

WHAT A GOAL

Koscielny is love. Koscielny is life.

Rest of the team should go *bleep* itself.