Southampton vs Arsenal 26/06/20

26 June 2020

Southampton will try to post their second successive Premier League triumph for the first time since January when they lock horns with out-of-sorts Arsenal at St. Mary’s Stadium this midweek.

A commanding 3-0 away win over Norwich in their first post-pandemic league fixture now means that none of Southampton’s last six Premier League matches has ended in a draw (W2, L4). Interestingly, each of those six results (win/loss) during that sequence saw the winner on the day open the scoring, with four producing a final margin of two or more goals. However, the Saints remain the weakest Premier League home side this term (W4, D2, L9) and are the only team to concede more than 30 goals on home turf. Ralph Hasenhüttl will be desperate to see his players inject more pace in the early stages, considering that Southampton have shipped the opening goal in 11 of 15 league home fixtures so far this season (the division’s slowest home starters).

Meanwhile, the visitors have suffered back-to-back away defeats since the league’s restart, both of which produced a two-goal margin and saw Arsenal concede precisely twice in the second half. As a consequence, the Gunners’ winless Premier League away run now stands at seven matches (D5, L2), as they seek a first league victory on the road since December 2019. But, it will be a daunting prospect for Mikel Arteta’s side to pick up three points here, given that they’ve pulled off only one win in their last eight top-flight trips to Southampton (D4, L3). Slow starts that have seen the Londoners concede the opening goal (if any) in 60% (nine) of 15 Premier League trips are a contributing factor to Arsenal’s struggles to find their footing away from home.