Southampton vs Arsenal team news: Gunners unchanged as Saints make four changes with Graziano Pelle out injured

Arsenal deploy the same same that beat Manchester City last Monday

The Arsenal starting line-up shirts are hung up in the changing room at St Mary's (Getty Images)

Arsenal named an unchanged line-up from the one that beat Manchester City on Monday night for the Boxing Day Premier League clash with Southampton, with the chance to leapfrog Leicester and move to the top of the table up for grabs.

Leicester came unstuck in their clash against Liverpool earlier on Saturday, meaning a win will take the Gunners into first place.

With that in mind, and given the manner of their 2-1 victory over City earlier in the week, manager Arsene Wenger named an unchanged starting XI for the trip to St Mary’s. In a further show of faith in his current squad, and also a reflection of the limited options he has due to injuries, Wenger named the same substitutes for the match.

Southampton meanwhile are looking to record their first victory in seven matches after a terrible run of form that has seen them drop to 12th in the table.

Manager Ronald Koeman is able to recall goalkeeper Martin Stekelenburg to the Saints’ starting line-up in one of four changes. Cuco Martina comes into defence for Cedric Soares while striker Graziano Pelle is replaced by Shane Long, with the absent pair ruled out with knee injuries.

The only other change sees James Ward-Prowse recalled in place of Dusan Tadic, who drops to the bench.

Teams

Southampton: Stekelenburg, Martina, Fonte, van Dijk, Bertrand; Wanyama, Clasie; Ward-Prowse, S.Davis, Mane; Long.

Subs: Gazzaniga, Caulker, Yoshida, Tadic, Romeu, Juanmi, Ramirez.

Arsenal: Cech; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey, Flamini; Walcott, Ozil, Campbell; Giroud.

Subs: Ospina, Gabriel, Gibbs, Chambers, Reine-Adelaide, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi.