Arsenal returned to fourth spot with a 2-0 win over Southampton at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon, courtesy first half goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
It was so obvious from their performance that they were determined to inflict pain on the St. Mary's outfit for ending their 22-match unbeaten run with a 3-2 win over them last year.
The Gunners were threatened by two early chances, one coming before each of their goals, but the sharp and active Bernd Leno kept his side in the game on both occasions.
Nathan Redmond struck first having raced on to a long ball to find himself one-on-one with our goalkeeper who made an impressive save.
We responded immediately, racing forward to go ahead in the seventh minute. Mkhitaryan sent in a low ball which was tucked into the net by Lacazette. The Frenchman became the first Arsenal player to score in four consecutive home league games since Robin Van Persie did so in 2012.
Leno again got involved five minutes later, palming a Matt Targett effort to maintain our lone goal advantage and prevent the visitors from making a comeback.
Mkhitaryan added a goal to his assist as he extended the lead when Alex Iwobi supplied a low cross for him to finish low into the corner.
The scores did not change by halftime even though there was more than one chance for Unai Emery's men to stretch the lead.
Soton seemed to have put themselves together for a fight in the second half while we looked unbalanced but we were still able to control the situation. A forceful substitution as a result of an injury to Stephan Lichtsteiner was not enough to distract us from the business of the day.
The introduction of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil brough more hopes. A third goal almost emanated from their team play, thanks to Gunn for clearing the danger.
It ended with no goals in the second half - victory, three points and a clean sheet were ours at the close of the encounter. Our hopes of Champions League qualification has been given more spark as we now sit on fourth spot just a point above Manchester United who could only get a draw against Liverpool today.
Bournemouth will visit North London to play Arsenal in the Premier League by Wednesday. That should be another chance for us to get another win.
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