Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Southampton keeper Maarten Stekelenburg hopes to be fit after a toe injury.
Manager Ronald Koeman is yet to decide whether to restore the Dutchman to the starting line-up or stick with his deputy, Paulo Gazzaniga.
Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez could be out until mid-January after a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury.
The Gunners have no new injury worries but remain without the likes of Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin and Danny Welbeck.
Editor’s Note: Arsenal are in the box seat right now. They may be only 2nd in the league right now but more importantly they have a 4 point lead over their nearest title rivals Manchester City. No disrespect to Leicester but they are very much the wildcard in this title race and Arsenal must be quietly confident that it’s only a matter of time before they reach the summit
They can help that cause by gaining all 3 points on the South Coast tonight against a Southampton side who haven’t won in 5 league matches and were second best against Arsenal’s North London Rivals Tottenham last weekend.
Arsenal may not have been able to welcome back Alexis Sanchez on Monday night but thankfully for them Mesut Ozil was happy to assist as he now took his tally up to 15 already for the season and only 5 off the record set by Thierry Henry, a record that Ozil must now be favourite to break.
The Gunners were deserved winners on Monday night and bar a late City flourish never really looked troubled. Even when City did claw it back to 2-1 and threw the kitchen sink at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger’s men were resolute enough to withstand the pressure and lay down a title marker.
As for Southampton it’s not be a good time as of late with Ronald Koeman reading the riot act to his charges saying that if things don’t turn around they could find themselves dragged into a relegation battle in the New Year. For them the visit of Arsenal couldn’t have come at a worse time.
For the first 20 minutes against Tottenham they did look lively with Sadio Mane causing a threat but once Spurs went in front they had the wind knocked out of their sails and never really threatened. This must have been disheartening for Koeman and he knows he needs to get a performance out of his men tonight.
Unfortunately I don’t think the Saints will go marching in tonight, as Arsenal will get their 4th win a row and if Leicester slip up could also see themselves go top of the tree. An away win for me
