Southampton vs Arsenal report: Nightmare afternoon for Wojciech Szczesny as Saints put down marker on fourth place

Southampton 2 Arsenal 0: Mane and Tadic score for Saints

Dusan Tadic (right) capitalises on Wojciech Szczesny error to make it 2-0 (GETTY IMAGES)

Southampton’s players were allowed a glass of wine on New Year’s Eve, but it was Arsène Wenger who was left with a headache after this match.

This was supposed to be the day his Arsenal reasserted the old order, putting Southampton in their place as they had West Ham on Sunday. Instead, they were undone by a defensive performance so catastrophic that Saints’ manager, Ronald Koeman, was left lamenting his own team’s failure to score “three or four goals” from “seven, eight, nine big chances”. Two were enough. Though they were scored by Sadio Mané and Dusan Tadic, the responsibility for both lay with Arsenal’s defence, especially goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

For the first he went walkabout, for the second he panicked. Not that he was alone. In this injury-hit season Arsenal have rarely fielded a first-choice back four. To judge by the way the quartet performed at St Mary’s that may be a blessing. As well as the two goals, Graziano Pelle hit the post twice, James Ward-Prowse spurned two fine chances and, between errors, Szczesny made some good saves.

It was not all one-way traffic. With Alexis Sanchez as sublime as ever, Arsenal created opportunities of their own and should have scored first. “There are regrets because it is a self-inflicted defeat,” said Wenger. “We had chances, we were in control, then we made mistakes that allowed them to win the game.”

Wenger would not be drawn on Szczesny’s performance, except to suggest the blame for the opening goal should be shared with Laurent Koscielny. Colombian stopper David Ospina will play in the FA Cup against Hull City on Sunday, but that was always planned.

Victory meant Southampton maintained their place in the top four. Not that Koeman could be persuaded that this win meant they were heading for the Champions League.

“This result [only] shows we can beat a big team like Arsenal,” he said, adding that, having lost to both Manchester clubs, drawing with Chelsea on Sunday had been important psychologically. “After that, the players had the belief they could win a big game. We made less mistakes than against United and City, that is the difference. We are learning against big teams.”

With 11 players injured or suspended, including a raft of midfielders and a trio of strikers, Wenger deployed Sanchez in a central attacking role and paired Calum Chambers and Francis Coquelin as holding midfielders. But Saints also had key absentees, notably Morgan Schneiderlin and Nathaniel Clyne.

Mane celebrates putting Saints 1-0 up (GETTY IMAGES)

In a bright opening there were early chances at each end. Pelle rose ahead of Koscielny and Per Mertesacker to head Tadic’s looped cross against the foot of the post. Then Sanchez forced Fraser Forster, diving full stretch to his right, into spilling a 20-yard shot.

Arsenal’s big miss came when Rosicky broke down the right and Sanchez dummied his cutback, leaving Cazorla a clear shot. However, the Spaniard scuffed it at Forster.

Fifteen minutes later, Saints took the lead. Ward-Prowse played a ball through the inside-right channel and Mané muscled his way past Koscielny on to it. Szczesny came tearing from his goal to close down the Senegalese, then started retreating. Not quickly enough, however, for Mané curled the ball over him and into the net. Wenger silently fumed while Cazorla stood with arms outstretched as if to say, ‘What were you thinking?’

Saints’ celebrations must, however, have been excessive, as Mané, having been submerged under a pile of bodies, limped away and was soon withdrawn. Koeman switched to 4-2-3-1, with Ward-Prowse behind Pelle and another talented young Englishman, Harrison Reed, partnering Victor Wanyama in central midfield. That gave Southampton more solidity, though it still needed a fine save from Forster to deny Sanchez after 54 minutes.

A downbeat Arsene Wenger at St Mary's

It was another key incident because, two minutes later, Southampton doubled their lead. Davis, running on to Wanyama’s pass, controlled the ball brilliantly before drilling a low cross Mathieu Debuchy could only stop. Szczesny should have picked it up but, thinking that could be interpreted as a back pass, hacked weakly at the ball. It went to Tadic who scored.

Arsenal became a mess defensively as they chased goals and Saints should have sewn the match up. Pelle hit the post, Tadic shot wide, Ward-Prowse shot over and, after a blind back pass by Koscielny, Pelle saw his shot headed off the line by Debuchy.

Those misses could have proved expensive but for referee Craig Pawson’s inexplicable decision not to dismiss Florin Gardos for tripping Sanchez as he burst through with 20 minutes left. “It was of course a sending-off,” said Wenger. “I was surprised, a definite red card.”

Wenger’s miserable start to 2015 was compounded by an exchange with a fan who had wandered in front of the technical area and remonstrated with the Arsenal bench. Southampton officials believe he may have been an Arsenal fan who was sitting in a home area, and wanted to moan at Wenger. As he was arrested, the truth should soon emerge.

“He was not aggressive at all,” said Wenger, which did not seem the case from video footage. But the fan, who was eventually dragged away by security, is the least of Wenger’s headaches.