Southampton will entertain Arsenal at the St. Mary’s Stadium on Thursday afternoon hoping to pick up a vital win at home. The Saints will come into this clash on the back of a dominant 3-0 win over Norwich City last week. In contrast, the Gunners have suffered back-to-back losses in the Premier League versus Manchester City and Brighton & Hove Albion respectively.
Both teams will be looking to go all out for the three points which could make this upcoming contest an exciting one in midweek.
Talking Tactics
Ralph Hasenhüttl will opt for a 4-2-2-2 formation and might name an unchanged starting XI for this home encounter. Danny Ings is enjoying a decent run of form, so we can expect him to carry most of Southampton’s goal-scoring workload alongside Michael Obafemi up top. The Saints are likely to sit back and soak in the Gunners pressure before exploiting their opponent’s defensive weaknesses on the break.
Mikel Arteta could choose to go with a 4-3-3 set-up and will be forced to bring Emiliano Martínez back for this clash in the absence of the recently injured Bernd Leno. The Arsenal players will be instructed to dominate possession and keep a high tempo when passing the ball going forward. The North London giants will rely on both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe to do most of the damage from the wide areas.
Team News
Southampton
Hasenhüttl has no fresh injury concerns to cope with heading into this league meeting with the Gunners. However, Moussa Djenepo will miss out on this match due to suspension.
Southampton Predicted XI
McCarthy, Valery, Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand, Ward-Prowse, Hojbjerg, Armstrong, Redmond, Ings, Obafemi
Arsenal
Mikel Arteta won’t have Leno available for this midweek encounter after he had sustained a serious knee injury versus the Seagulls on Friday. David Luiz would also be suspended for this game as he received a red card against Manchester City last week.
Arsenal Predicted XI
Martinez, Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Tierney, Ceballos, Guendouzi, Saka, Pepe, Nketiah, Aubameyang
Key Men
Southampton
Ings will be Southampton’s best hope for a goal on Thursday. Both James Ward-Prowse and Stuart Armstrong will have to maintain their good form if the Saints are to secure maximum points in their backyard.
Arsenal
As always, Arteta will be reliant on Aubameyang to find the back of the net in midweek while the performances of Shkodran Mustafi and Rob Holding could go a long way in determining the outcome of this contest.
Odds
The bookmakers have made Southampton the borderline favourites to emerge victorious at the St. Mary’s Stadium after they were priced at 8/5. The draw has been listed as 5/2 while the Gunners are priced at 5/2 to come away with all three points from the south coast of England.
