Gunners bounce back with win at St Mary’s

SOUTHAMPTON. — On the hottest day of 2020, Arsenal were made to sweat but finally their Project Restart campaign has lift off.

This wasn’t pretty — Eddie Nketiah’s freak first-half winner illustrative of this cluttered game played out in the sweltering June heat.

Not that Mikel Arteta gave a damn as his men won 2-0 last night.

After two successive defeats this victory was a necessity — the manner of it was secondary.

By the time Joe Willock eased any late apprehension, Southampton were down to 10 men as Jack Stephens was sent off for trying to reprieve his team Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s dreadful error.

For the time being, Arsenal can continue to dream of Champions League qualification. But in his heart of hearts, Arteta knows this victory will only serve as a temporary respite to the problems he faces in trying to return the Gunners to the top table of European football.

Arteta made four changes at St Mary’s — most notably Matteo Guendouzi was axed from the entire squad following his questionable antics during the loss to Brighton on Saturday.

The Arsenal manager defended his young Frenchman in public during the week — but actions speak louder than words it seems.

Granit Xhaka, having recovered from an ankle injury, was back in the starting XI as Arteta shuffled his pack in search of a glimmer of light from what has been a miserable start restart.

No such decisions for Hassenhuttl.

No changes; who would he after last week’s 3-0 cruise away at Norwich?

That magical 40 point mark was Southampton’s target here; an unthinkable achievement considering that embarrassing 9-0 loss to Leicester in October.

Credit to Hasenhuttl, though, for having the pluckiness to reverse a slide that showed very little sign of halting.

Also, credit to the Saints board for refusing to pull the trigger, for backing their man when the easiest thing would have been to cut and run.

This loss a relatively minor blow considering their problems earlier in the season.

Arsenal made all the early running here, Nketiah had the ball in the net after eight minutes following Bukayo Saka’s square pass — but his tap-in was correctly disallowed for offside.

Two minutes later Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang crashed his angled effort off the cross bar following Kieran Tierney’s beautifully flighted pass that unlocked the Saints with worrying ease.

Yet there was nothing easy on the eye about Arsenal’s opener. Fair play to Nketiah for putting in the hard yards to close down goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, who was positioned on the edge of his area to collect a routine pass back from Jan Bednarek.

McCarthy didn’t need to take a touch, but he did. Moments later he was wishing he hadn’t as his attempt clearance was charged down by Nketiah, who finished the job tapping into an empty net to score only his third Premier League goal.

But for a misdirected Ryan Bertrand effort after Danny Ings had brilliantly set him up, Southampton weren’t at the races.

They were fortunate not to fall two behind on the stroke of half-time after Nketiah misfired after Nicolas Pepe released him through on goal.

The positive for Southampton was that Arsenal weren’t home and hosed, while the Gunners’ capitulation after going 1-0 ahead against Brighton last weekend was a source of encouragement.

Similarly, memories of Saturday’s loss against Graham Potters men would have filled Arteta with a certain level of anxiety at half time.

Meanwhile, Jay Rodriguez grabbed the winner as Burnley beat Watford 1-0 last night to keep the pressure on the Hornets in the Premier League relegation battle.

Rodriguez met a pinpoint left-wing cross from Dwight McNeil with a perfectly angled glancing header to put the Clarets ahead in the 73rd minute.

Former Southampton striker Rodriguez had gone close to a first-half opener when he had a shot cleared off the line by Craig Dawson after Matej Vydra had struck the post.

Rodriguez had the ball in the net earlier, heading in an Ashley Westwood cross, but the effort was ruled out for offside.

The nearest Watford came was a second half effort from Troy Deeney which was cleared off the line by McNeil.

Watford are in 16th place, a point above the relegation zone, while 11th placed Burnley move to 42 points.

“We were fortunate to be level at halftime, we didn’t impose ourselves on the game. Our second half performance was much better,” said Watford manager Nigel Pearson. “It is a missed opportunity but no point in dwelling on these situations. They are good at what they do and saw the game out,” he added. — Mailonline/SuperSport