Arsenal gave their critics a sharp wake up call on Saturday by cruising to an incredible 6-1 victory against Southampton.
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The Gunners have had a meandering start to the season and with the sale of Robin Van Persie it looked like they would struggle to be contenders in the chase for the football medals of this year’s Premier League.
But the positive side is that they have had the best start to their season defensively for more than 30 years, keeping three consecutive clean sheets until the Saints came to town.
It was left to Danny Fox to score Southampton’s only goal of the fixture, but by then it was too late as the football nets had been well and truly bombarded by the Gunners.
The scoring was opened by a shocking mistake from Saints goalkeeper Davies after he failed to stop a cross which was bundled into the back of the net by defender Hooiveld, who will have had one of his worse days in his Southampton football kit. Then 20 minutes later Podolski took a belter of a free kick – the kind that only extensive use of football training equipment can give – to put the Gunners 2-0 up in half an hour.
It got worse as Gervinho scored after an easy through ball behind the Saints defence, something which is rather basic. This kind of defensive error should have been drilled out of the players on the training ground, like it has been in the Arsenal squad, with the notable influence of Steve Bould starting to take effect.
Two minutes later Nathanial Clyne buried the ball into his own football goal from a Gervinho cross. It’s not often that there are two own goals from the same side in the same game, but it turned out to be that kind of day for Southampton.
This was where Danny Fox pulled one back, to muted celebrations as the game was over by half time. Gervinho scored another on the 71st minute, followed by Theo Walcott’s finish on the 88th.
Southampton have had a difficult first few weeks in the top flight, already taking on Manchester United and Manchester City, and they’re currently bottom of the table looking for their first points. Encouragingly they have managed to score in every game, so the potential is there.
QPR drew 0-0 with Chelsea in a derby that was fueled by events off the pitch involving Anton Ferdinand and a handshake; while Manchester United beat Wigan 4-0 at Old Trafford, where Wigan haven’t taken three points from United in decades.
It was a match of milestone’s for United, with Fergie taking control of his 500th match, Paul Scholes making his 700th appearance in a Manchester United football kit, Rio Ferdinand, who has been marred by controversy of late, made his 400th appearance and Ryan Giggs his 600th.
Ex United player Dimitar Berbatov made his debut for Fulham in style by scoring two in their 3-0 win over West Brom, who have had a fantastic start with 7 points from three games.
Berbatov is Fulham’s star player now, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he will steal the show at Craven Cottage for years to come.
Although the Gunners seem to be aiming for all the limelight recently.
