The Gunners may be dominating in the UEFA Europa League, but in Premier League competition they’re absolutely sputtering. Arsenal has taken just two points out of a possible 12 since an October 6 home win over AFC Bournemouth.
As for Southampton, their last win, of any sort, was the 4-0 routing of arch-rivals Portsmouth back on September 24. That’s a League One (the third tier of English football) side by the way. Saints head into this one in 19th place, and sporting the worst goal differential, -18, in the entire top flight. Arsenal, however, are eight points adrift of the top four, so they need a win pretty badly too.
In looking at the team news for this one, Dani Ceballos has not played since November 6, and Arsenal have confirmed that his hamstring injury will keep him out of this one, and much more.
The club said that the Spain international will “return to training in mid-December,” so that means he’ll be out for a significant amount of time. Elsewhere Sead Kolasinac picked up an injury to his left hamstring while on international duty with Bosnia & Herzegovina. He is a doubt for this one, but could be ready should be pass a late fitness test.
Obviously, you won’t be seeing Granit Xhaka featuring in this one either. Switching over to Saints, Michael Obafemi is the only fitness worry for Ralph Hasenhüttl at all right now.
Southampton FC at Arsenal FYIs
Kickoff: Saturday Nov 23, 3PM, Emirates Stadium
Arsenal Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Google Result Probability: Arsenal FC 65%, Draw 21%, Southampton FC 14%
Form Guide: Southampton- LLLDL Arsenal- LDDLW
Prediction: Arsenal 3, Southampton
You got this Gooners, no doubt…
…well, if not, then it really is time to give the idea of #EmeryOut more credence.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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