This was a reality check for any title pretensions Arsenal hold, although any stewing will still be done from the top of the pile. They had taken an 11th-minute lead through Granit Xhaka and a weakened Southampton side, unable to get near their visitors, looked ripe for a thrashing. Instead they failed to turn the screw and, in a development that may give the embattled Ralph Hasenhüttl’s tenure fresh life, were pegged back by a beautifully worked equaliser from Stuart Armstrong.
By the end Saints, looking a vastly more confident unit than the crestfallen group that had earlier chased shadows, could feel they were worth a point; Arsenal, fortunate to scrape through at Leeds a week previously, were unable to generate a late slice of luck this time.
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