Southampton scored a goal in each half to secure a comfortable 2-0 win over Arsenal at St Mary's to keep hold of fourth place in the Premier League this evening.
© Getty Images
The first chance of the afternoon fell to Graziano Pelle as the home side made a bright start, with Dusan Tadic beating Per Mertesacker to get the cross in, but the Italian headed just wide.
Arsenal soon started to create the better of the chances, but Fraser Forster denied a 20-yard drilled effort from Alexis Sanchez before palming a Mathieu Debuchy strike clear.
The Gunners continued to look the more likely in the first half, but Forster frustrated them with a string of saves, including keeping out a Santi Cazorla effort from close range after a quick break from Tomas Rosicky.
Despite Arsenal's dominance, it was the home side who opened the scoring shortly before the break when Sadio Mane got in behind Laurent Koscielny, and lobbed the ball over Wojciech Szczesny after the keeper came off his line to try to stop the Ghanaian.
The visitors pushed for an equaliser shortly after the restart as Sanchez carved out a chance with some flashy footwork, but Forster remained alert to deny the Chile international.
The save proved vital as Southampton immediately pressed down the other end, and managed to add a second when Debuchy intercepted a ball into the box and tapped it back to Szczesny, but the keeper's clearance was straight into the path of Tadic, leaving the Southampton man with a simple tap-in.
The Saints could have made it three shortly after the hour mark when Pelle burst into the box, but his finish struck the post before James Ward-Prowse curled the rebound high.
Pelle continued to threaten up front, but was denied again when Debuchy headed another effort from the striker off the line after Tadic had rounded the Arsenal keeper before pulling it back for the Italian.
The home side may have been lucky to keep 11 players on the pitch when Florin Gardos charged into Sanchez, who was through on goal, but the lenient referee just booked the defender.
Arsenal saw plenty of the ball in the final 10 minutes as they tried to give themselves some late hope, but the home side defended strongly to ensure that they did not let the Gunners back into the match.
The result leaves Arsenal in fifth, three points adrift of this afternoon's opponents, while Southampton are now just a point behind Manchester United.
Sian Cowper
