"Leicester City" lost to "Liverpool" in their away game, in the final Boxing Day match, London's "Arsenal" have a chance to rise to the top of the "Premier" league. In order to do that, Arsene Wenger's team will have to defeat "Southampton" away.
Last season, the match between these teams took place at "St Mary's" stadium on the first day of 2015 and ended with a 2-0 victory for the hosts.
Wenger described the defeat as giving his team an extra boost. Indeed, in the current calendar year, the "Gunners" have performed better on the home front than any other English team.
After this evening, "Arsenal" fans can only hope for another such boost.
From the start of the match, the visitors from the capital looked dull and posed little threat to the opponent's goal. The only goal in the first half came from a long-range strike by "Southampton" defender Cuco Martina, but a recovery from the "Gunners" was still possible.
Although the strike was truly superb, it is worth mentioning that in the build-up to the attack, the assistant referee did not flag for an offside.
After the break, "Arsenal" failed to turn events in their favor and looked even worse, with the entire second half being described as hopeless. Virgil van Dijk's headed goal after a penalty shot was disallowed, but Shane Long scored on a counterattack in the 55th minute.
Here, too, his push against defender Laurent Koscielny could be seen, but the subsequent course of events showed that the "Saints" still deserved the victory.
Despite struggling in offense, "Arsenal" conceded another goal from a corner scored by Jose Fonte, and Long added another goal as the match ended.
Thanks to the victory, "Southampton", who played excellently that evening, remain twelfth, while their lead over "Manchester City" shrunk to just one point.
Result:
"Southampton" 4 - 0 "Arsenal"
[1-0] 19' Cuco Martina
[2-0] 55' Shane Long
[3-0] 69' Jose Fonte
[4-0] 90' Shane Long
