Delayed by about 15 minutes due to players having trouble reaching the stadium on time, the match kicked off at 8:45 pm IST. The match was almost a letdown after a really exciting Merseyside derby, filled with exciting attacking football, but still what Arsenal wanted was a quiter, no fuss game with a full 3 points against a visiting Southampton side. Arsenal welcomed Theo Walcott back from injury, but Mathieu Flamini is banned after amassing five yellow cards. Per Mertesacker returns after missing the defeat at Manchester United because of a virus. With 60,007 in attendance the match started with Arsenal dominating possession but lacking real grit and bite in their attack. Southampton also seemed more intent on sitting back and let Arsenal attack while they crowd the defense of their goal. And typically in such situations it was a huge mistake that led to the opening goal. Goalie Boruc made a huge gaff, trying to play a back pass too much and trying to dribble the ball away from Oliver Giroud. The French striker punished him by tackling the ball away from the goalie and putting the ball in the net. 1-0 Arsenal!
Southampton picked up their game and started taking more possession of the ball and pushed for an equalizer and at times it looked like they would get the deserved goal. Theo Walcott made his appearance as he replaced Santiago Cazorla in the 70th minute, while Tomas Rosicky, who had the flu but did recover in time, replaced an injured Mikel Arteta in the 74th minute. Arsenal would get their deserved second goal sealing the victory when a penalty was conceded by Jose Fonte after a foul in the penalty area on Metezacker. Giroud stepped up and converted the penalty with a left footed shot to the bottom right corner.
Earlier in the evening I sat back with some coffee to watch the Merseyside derby and what a match it was. The first 9 minutes were filled with explosive attacking football and two goals were scored as Liverpool, who were the visitors, and Everton found themselves at 1-1. Liverpool would go into the halftime up 2 goals to 1 after a superb Suarez freekick goal but Everton took the lead with two goals by Lukaku. However 8 minutes before the end of the 90, Liverpool scored an equalizer and that’s how the game ended – 3-3 and a delight to watch!