A 2-0 victory over Southampton on Wednesday night moved Arsenal to within three points of the top four. Goals from Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud ultimately made the difference at St Mary's, as Arsene Wenger’s men boosted their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.
Arsenal climbed to the fifth spot in the table with this pivotal triumph, while Southampton remain 10th as they battle for a top-half finish. Here are five talking points from the game.
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#1 Sanchez steps up when his team need him the most
Sanchez has had a difficult few months, with his form tailing off and talk about his future intensifying. A move back out wide did not appear to help matters as the Chile international had thrived up front earlier in the campaign. Danny Welbeck has been named as the centre-forward more often in 2017 and he has done a good enough job.
Sanchez showed his brilliance in the last game, though; there had been very few instances of quality in the game before his goal in the 60th minute.
The former Barcelona man collected a pass from Mesut Ozil, tricked his way past two Southampton defenders and fired the ball into the back of the net. It was a moment of magic from a player who has been below his best in recent times, and another reminder of Sanchez’s enduring quality.
The Chilean was otherwise quiet for most of the night, but he was the man who was responsible for the key moment in the game by opening the scoring shortly after the hour.
#2 Southampton struggle in the final third
Southampton could easily have gone ahead here, with Petr Cech forced into two good saves in the first half. There is a feeling, though, that the side often fails to convert tidy build-up play into clear-cut chances, and that was again in evidence on Wednesday.
Saints are a neat, technical team who are capable of producing some excellent football at times, but they can be a little blunt in the final third. Manolo Gabbiadini got his Premier League career off to a brilliant start but has faded a little since then, while Dusan Tadic has been much less influential this season than he was in the previous campaign.
This match could have turned out very differently indeed had Southampton demonstrated more of a clinical edge in and around the penalty area, so it would be unfair to criticise them too much. Yet there is a reason that Claude Puel’s charges have only scored 39 goals in their 35 encounters this term, and it is something they will need to improve next season.
#3 Giroud the super-sub keeps up his excellent record
Giroud has had to remain patient for much of this season, with his first Premier League start not arriving until late December against West Bromwich Albion.
He was again left on the substitutes’ bench on Wednesday night, with Welbeck chosen as the sole centre-forward, but – not for the first time – Giroud still succeeded in making an impact. His was, in truth, a simple finish, but the former Montpellier frontman was in the right place at the right time to nod Aaron Ramsey’s header past Fraser Forster.
The Frenchman may have started only nine matches this term, with his average appearance lasting just 39 minutes, but he has still scored 10 goals – he is, therefore, putting the ball in the back of the net every 103 minutes, which is a better record than the likes of Sanchez, Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku, Sergio Aguero, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Diego Costa.
Welbeck offers more speed and mobility at the top of the pitch than Giroud, whose strengths lie in his ability in the air and his one-touch link-up play. The 30-year-old is by no means perfect, but it is difficult to argue with his contributions in testing circumstances this term.
#4 Will Puel still be at St Mary's next season?
Puel has certainly not done a bad job on the south coast this term, but he does not seem to enjoy the same connection with the club as predecessors Nigel Adkins, Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman did. Southampton
Southampton are arguably the best run club in the division and have an excellent track record of replacing players and managers with minimum fuss, so they are unlikely to be fazed by the prospect of searching for a new head coach this summer.
Sacking the Frenchman would be harsh in the extreme, particularly as the Saints were unfortunate to lose the EFL Cup final to a Zlatan Ibrahimovic-inspired Manchester United. Yet there is little room for sentiment in the modern game, and the club’s hierarchy have a duty to act if they do not consider Puel to be the right man for the job.
Marco Silva is one man who has been linked with Southampton, although he may yet receive offers from elsewhere. Puel has done enough to deserve another crack of the whip next season, but football does not always work like that.
#5 Arsenal refuse to go away in the race for top four
Liverpool and Manchester City are still the clear favourites to secure the two remaining Champions League qualification spots behind Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, but this result keeps Arsenal in the mix.
With Stoke City (away), Sunderland (home) and Everton (home) still to play, the Gunners will be targeting nine points from nine and hope that such a tally is enough to get them over the line.
On one level, Wenger’s side deserve credit for the manner in which they have bounced back from several setbacks in 2017, but the fact that they remain in the race is also a damning indictment of Liverpool and City’s failure to wrap up their places in the top four.
For Southampton, the target is a fourth consecutive top-10 finish in the first division – something they have never managed before. Perhaps expectations have been unfairly heightened after the achievements of Pochettino and Koeman, but this season has been a little underwhelming for Saints. Maybe, though, that is simply evidence of how far they have come.
