Soccer English Premier League Prediction

Arsenal vs Southampton - Match Preview

⚽ 21 April 2023 - 19:00 GMT +0

Despite leading the Premier League (PL) for the vast majority of the season, Arsenal’s title charge looks to be faltering despite not suffering a league defeat since mid-February (W7, D2). Manchester City’s relentless pursuit of the Gunners means successive 2-2 draws - after taking a 2-0 lead in each - had seen their lead at the top cut to four points at the end of the last round, with City boasting a game in hand; a potential momentum shifter ahead of their all-important H2H clash next week.

This clash with Southampton is the ideal fixture to get back to winning ways ahead of that crunch contest. Not only have Mikel Arteta’s men won each of their seven home games so far against current bottom-half opponents, but they also scored a remarkable 27 combined goals in those games while conceding only seven in reply. Furthermore, you’d have to go back to 27 meetings in North London for the last time Arsenal tasted an H2H defeat on their own patch.

That’ll all be bleak reading for a Southampton side already in a pretty sorry state. They finished the last round four points from safety, without a PL win in six matches (D2, L4) and, despite the tight nature of this year’s relegation fight, have been rooted to the bottom of the table for the past five weeks. Their most recent setback - a 2-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace - proved particularly damaging and left manager Rubén Sellés admitting with seven games to go that it was becoming “more difficult” for his team to climb out of danger.

Irrespective of their form, Southampton have actually been pretty robust on the road recently. They’ve conceded just two combined goals across their last four away league matches, although just one goal scored themselves from their last five away league outings highlights why they’ve not been able to turn those strong defensive displays into points on the board (W1, D1, L3).

📋 Players to watch: Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus has hit the ground running following his return from injury, scoring four goals in his last three matches - three before half-time. It’s been a season to forget for Southampton’s Mohamed Elyounoussi who has registered zero goals and one assist in 27 PL appearances; however, he could register a third straight H2H assist here against Arsenal.

⚡ Hot streak: Each of the last eight H2H competitive meetings have produced 2+ match cards.