Southampton 1-1 Arsenal: Instant Reaction

Arsenal draw for the first time this season

Headline: Just enough bites back

Arsenal did enough in this match to win.

They took slightly more shots with better overall chances, Arsenal won on expected goals, doing more to get the ball close to the opponent’s goal but ultimately they struggled to really deserve more than their one goal.

Getting just the one goal also doesn’t feel like it is too hard on Arsenal. Arsenal had three big chances but nothing that was better than a 33% chance.

This is starting to be a bit of a trend for Arsenal, they are very good at even game state (score tied, 11v11), with the best expected goals difference (+1.7 per 90) and goal difference (+2.0 per 90) in the Premier League. When Arsenal have gone ahead just the one goal, they have not been nearly as good at making themselves 2 goals up, they have the 8th best goal difference (+0.5 per 90) but only the 11th best xG difference (-0.3 per 90).

That was the story again in this match. Arsenal did really well to get the lead and had a couple of chances to make it two but failed to really ramp up the pressure where it felt inevitable to happen.

They ended up conceding one good chance and that is all it took to turn this into a draw.

Stock Rising: Martin Odegaard