Arsene Wenger relieved as late penalty lets Arsenal off the hook

Laurent Koscielny equalised 11 minutes later but just as it appeared a laboured display from the hosts would end with a disappointing draw, referee Bobby Madley adjudged Jose Fonte to have pulled substitute Olivier Giroud back in the box, giving Cazorla the chance to smash home a last-gasp victor.

Southampton are in the bottom three after having secure only two points from the first four games of the Premier League.

It may only be the fourth week, but fans are already growing exhausted of Arsene Wenger, and if he doesn’t deliver results, he could be on the hot seat soon.

Asked if he agreed with Bobby Madley’s decision to award the late penalty – for a shirt tug on Olivier Giroud – he said: “Everybody says to me that it was a penalty and I have not seen it again, so I am not completely sure”.

Arsenal fell behind in clumsy circumstances in the 18th minute.

The stopper managed to brilliantly tip Dusan Tadic’s effort onto the bar from a freekick, but when the ball came back off the woodwork, it smashed into the back of Cech and into the goal.

With Saints defenders twice losing headers from a corner, the ball sat up nicely for Koscielny to smash a bicycle kick beyond Forster’s despairing dive.

“We had a little bit of a slow start, after 20 minutes we were 1-0 down, so we came back well into the game and we had a good response”, Wenger said.

“We played with good possibilities, we scored”.

After picking up only one win from its first three games, it looked like being another frustrating day for Arsenal until Cazorla’s late intervention. The Gunners have now reeled off back-to-back wins but they remain five points behind leader Manchester City and looking far from being title challengers.

From then on it looked like a draw was on the cards as Claude Puel’s men held firm, but Arsenal found a late victor, although that was not enough to convince Allen to hold back from criticising Arsene Wenger’s side.

“This is too much”, Puel said, avoiding criticizing Saturday’s referee.

“It is disappointing as in all of our games I think “we can win”.

Southampton’s next match is the first of their Europa League campaign, at home to Sparta Prague on Thursday.

Wenger had confirmed yesterday that Aaron Ramsey would not be involved in this match or next week’s opening Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain.