Twitter erupts as Arsenal suffer blow in Premier League title race after frustrating 1-1 draw against Southampton
Arsenal were unable to grab all three points despite scoring an early opener against Southampton in their Premier League clash at Saint Mary's Stadium on Sunday (October 23). The 1-1 result will see them consolidate their position at the top of the table, but with only two points separating them from title defenders Manchester City.
The Gunners were the more dominating force from the onset, attacking with vibrance and intent, and it paid off almost effortlessly. After big chances from Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli within the first ten minutes, it was Granit Xhaka who opened the scoring for the visitors.
Much of the praise for the goal will go to Ben White, whose link-up with Bukayo Saka guided him down the right flank after getting past two Southampton defenders. The full-back squarred the ball into the area, where an unmarked Xhaka was on hand to meet the ball and fire it into the roof of the goal in the 11th minute.
Arsenal continued their exciting teamplay that saw them slice through the final third with impressive passing quality, but they could not double the scoreline in the first half. Southampton were stumped by their visitors, but were mostly saved by important goalkeeping efforts from Gavin Bazunu. The young shot-stopper played his part in ensuring that only one goal got past the Saints in the first half.
Arsenal drop points following a lackluster second half performance
While the Gunners started off the first half with a flurry of attacking finesse and passion, their start to the second half reeked of complacency. However, for the Saints, there was a noticeable shift in eagerness, and the hosts started creating chances.
In the 60th minute, a big chance came for Arsenal to score another on the counter-attack, but they fluffed it. Martin Odegaard released Jesus with a brilliant pass, but the Samba forward couldn't get his shot off in time as Mohamed Elyounoussi slid the ball off the route.
Soon after, Southampton scored, much to the delight of their fans at the Saint Mary's Stadium. Once again, it was Elyounoussi who was vital as the midfielder snuck in a pass through Arsenal's defense for Stuart Armstrong to equalize five minutes after the hour mark. The goal gave the hosts the confidence they needed to attack, and they took the game to their visitors, getting close with a number of key chances.
Notably, Odegaard scored for the Gunners in the 79th minute, but the goal did not stand as the ball had gone out of play before the attacking midfielder received it. The former Real Madrid man sought out another chance late in the game, guiding the ball into Eddie Nketiah, but to no avail, as the Gunners were forced to share the spoils.
Here is how Twitter reacted to Arsenal's draw against Southampton:
Anytime Arsenal don’t win, I must always see their fans crying about referees, such babies man.
The worse thing that can happen to any team at top position, in the premier league is to be chased by Manchester city. Liverpool can attest to that. Arsenal body go tell them soon.
It's crazy how every football fan knows that Arsenal will go back to default setting and ultimately drop out of top 4 this season.
Seeing arsenal fans blame the ref so I'm guessing they dropped points lmao. But in all seriousness the ref did have a poor game
Arsenal this is just the beginning for you guys.
Your position is 5th 📌
Even Arsenal fans are not celebrating a draw, things have changed, no time for mediocrity. A certain fanbase are still rejoicing 24 hours after a draw 😆
The only thing am sure about this EPL season, Arsenal won't win the trophy. You can take this bank.
🏾Arsenal don play draw. Dem don dey go back to their old ways. We just have to trust the process 🙏🏾
Arsenal have won just two of the last seven visits to St Mary's in all competitions (W2 D2 L3).
#SOUARS
Also no point in Arsenal fans blaming the ref for today, our performance was nowhere near good enough after our goal.
Jesus manhandled all game. Nothing. White pushed in the back in the area. Nothing. Southampton player CLEARLY punches an Arsenal player. Nothing. A huge head butt motion but misses the player. Remember it’s about INTENT - yellow. Again, how can the officials be this bad??
Arsenal still lead the PL Table since August... we are gargantuan https://t.co/3HoOiraCNR
We all know it’s only a matter of time before Arsenal drop out of the top spot and out of Top 4. Na here we dey. 💀
Arsenal fans whinging bout fatigue in November uno lol they not used to that midweek life 😭
🏻Arsenal draw their first game since January and apparently it’s a “major setback” 🙄 was it a “major setback” when Man City drew at Aston Villa 🤷🏻♂️
We’re still TOP OF THE LEAGUE mate, I’ll take the draw and look forward to the next one, on we trot 👊🏻
Gary Neville has been waiting for this day all season. He's going to use it as a yardstick for gauging Arsenal's season.
Arsenal are going nowhere😂💔
Southampton (0.59) 1-1 (1.52) Arsenal
Let’s all laugh at Arsenal 😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂🤣🤣🤣😂🤣😂🤣🤣🤣 Honey moon period is over
Arsenal drop points for second time this season. 1:1 it ended.
The Arsenal we know and love is on its way back, inevitably.
The day Arsenal lose Twitter is going to explode, people are moving mad on here because we DREW 🤣🤣🤣
Sometimes I wonder if Arsenal fans, from the bottom of their hearts, think they have any genuine chance of winning the league 🥺
Arsenal is now 2points ahead of the Champions,we’re coming there🫵
Awful performance from Arsenal in the second half but the referee need to answer a lot of questions for those decisions
The difference between Arsenal and City at the moment is KDB. KDB is scoring a long range shot if his striker can’t score instead of trying to be cute like Odegaard in this game.
The Gunners will next face PSV Eindhoven away in the UEFA Europa League on October 27.