Saints hit four past poor Gunners

Jose Fonte then headed home a corner with a quarter of the game remaining before the Saints compounded their visitors’ misery when Long struck his second of the evening in stoppage time.

Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk saw a header perhaps incorrectly chalked off for offside shortly after the restart, but Ronald Koeman’s men grabbed a deserved second only a few moments later.

Arsenal began Saturday’s match well but simply fell apart after Southampton’s opening goal, scored with a 30-yard shot by Cuco Martina on his first Premier League start.

Well done to Southampton, decisions maybe went for them because they wanted it more than us’.

“We had to come out and take many risks and they looked sharp on the counterattack”.

Luckily they have the oppourtunity to atone for this result on Monday when they face Bournemouth, but for the time being it’s a blow to the confidence of a team who really need to affirm themselves as title challengers.

The Barclays Premier League season took yet another twist as Southampton severely dented dented Arsenal’s title ambitions with a comprehensive 4-0 drubbing at St Mary’s.

That 2-0 reverse was a watershed at Arsenal for so many reasons, and especially for Wojciech Szczesny. “The only thing I can say is 2015, if you look back and try to analyse it, we have been consistent”.

“We didn’t play well, I don’t dispute that, but with wrong decisions it is even more hard to win. Today was a very physical game and we didn’t play well enough”.

Arsenal is far too dominant and Southampton is far too enigmatic for this game to leave too much room for question.

And he has challenged his players to match the levels they set in beating City and confirm their credentials as a team capable of sustaining their title challenge.

On the other hand, the Red Devils have been disappointing in their last four games as they have failed to win in any of those games.

Long began the move, passing to Mane on the right and running into the box for the return pass. Laurent Koscielny, his marker, tripped after fleeting contact with Long, who was left unmarked to shoot past Cech. The former Barcelona star branded Saints “naive” in the wake of last weekend’s 2-0 loss to Tottenham, but the 52-year-old still believes his players can arrest their slump. Arsenal are in a ideal position to overtake Leicester at the top, given that the leaders will take on Liverpool, who will be tough to beat despite their rollercoaster of a season.