(Reuters) – Southampton ended a five-match winless run in the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Arsenal at St Mary’s Stadium on Saturday, dealing further damage to the visitors’ hopes of finishing in the top four this season.
Mikel Arteta’s side have slipped to sixth place in the standings on 54 points, level with Manchester United and three behind north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur but with a game in hand over both teams.
Jan Bednarek gave Southampton a narrow lead one minute before halftime after Mohamed Elyounoussi evaded the offside trap and crossed for the defender to finish past goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale to hand Arsenal their third straight defeat.
Arsenal, without forward Alexandre Lacazette due to COVID-19, failed to take advantage of early chances and were largely limited to speculative shots from distance, and their late push for an equaliser was thwarted by goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
Forster, who denied Gabriel Martinelli after nine minutes with an acrobatic save, later clawed away substitute Emile Smith Rowe’s effort at full stretch before blocking a shot from Bukayo Saka and diving to save Granit Xhaka’s deflected strike.
Arsenal dominated with 76% of the possession and had five shots on target but threw away the opportunity to re-ignite their top-four hopes after Tottenham’s loss to Brighton & Hove Albion earlier on Saturday.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
