Southampton 0 - 1 Arsenal

.From the official site:

0 - 1

By Richard Clarke

Arsenal will start the New Year one point behind leaders Manchester United after grinding out a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Southampton on Monday night.

Robert Pires grabbed the all-important goal 10 minutes before the break from Thierry Henry’s astute pass. But victory was no more than Ars�ne Wenger’s side deserved.

They were superior for long periods and, had Southampton keeper Antti Niemi not made a superb save from Freddie Ljungberg at the start of the second half, they would have cruised home.

This game represented the halfway point of Arsenal’s Premiership campaign. The manager indicated he’d given his side 9.5 out of 10 for the season up to Christmas. You’d have thought that mark would be the same if not better now given that since then they have taken six points from six, conceded no goals and maintained their unbeaten start to the League campaign.

Ars�ne Wenger had suggested that he’d change one or two players after the 3-0 victory over Wolves on Boxing Day. In fact, despite the return to fitness of Martin Keown and Lauren, the manager stayed with the same line-up. Gael Clichy again replaced the suspended Ashley Cole but, apart from that, this defence had conceded just two goals in the last six Premiership games.

It was a crisp, cold night on the South Coast. This was the last Premiership game of 2003 and the 250th for Dennis Bergkamp in the League as an Arsenal player.

The visitors began brightly and pushed back a Southampton side that had been hit by flu. To illustrate, before kick-off Chris Baird, Fitz Hall and Leandre Griffit had had just one Premiership start between them this season.

The first 15 minutes were played in the Southampton half but they yielded little in terms of opportunities. In fact it was home striker Kevin Phillips who caused the first action from either keeper. In the 13th minute, Jens Lehmann spilled his low shot momentarily but the danger was quickly quelled.

A minute later Henry started to sparkle. He teased the Southampton defence, who made the mistake of backing off, and cracked a shot that deflected off Danny Higginbotham before forcing Niemi to tip over.

The resulting corner found Henry at the back post. He twisted and turned two markers before clipping a cross to the unmarked Dennis Bergkamp at the far post, who stabbed a header into the side-netting. The Dutchman held his head knowing he should have done better.

Southampton were trying to rouse themselves but Arsenal were knocking the ball around in style and playing their way out of any minor moments of trouble. Parlour and Pires produced long-range pot-shots that did not trouble Niemi.

By the half-hour, the home side had muscled their way back into game and some extra bite became evident in the tackling.

So it was ironic that, during Southampton’s best period of the half, Arsenal went ahead. Ten minutes from half time a lightning break ended with Henry releasing Pires with a well-weighted pass expertly placed inside the covering defender. He took a touch and drilled his seventh Premiership goal of the season under Niemi.

By pushing Arsenal back Southampton had given Henry et al space to exploit once the home side’s move had broken down.

The Frenchman fired over the angle of bar and post just before the break while Kevin Phillips’ header drifted just past Lehmann’s post.

The tide continued to flow Arsenal’s way at the start of the second half - and they began attacking in waves! Henry start it by firing a fire-kick narrowly over the bar.

Then in the 53rd minute, Toure clipped a cross to the far post where Chris Baird miscued his clearance to Ljungberg at the far post. The Swede caught his shot well and it seemed destined for the far corner. But Niemi somehow got his fingertips to the ball to divert the ball past the post. An incredible save.

It was all Arsenal once more. No wonder Strachan used two of his substitutes before the hour was up.

However the visitors were in a tenacious mood and, though Southampton again pushed their way back into the game, they continued to seem the team most likely to add to their lead.

Given that they had let in late equalisers at Leicester and Bolton in their last two games, one hoped they’d do precisely that. After Edu and Kanu had replaced Ljungberg and Bergkamp, Henry did his best to put daylight between the two sides by driving across the edge of the area and thumping a shot wide.

Niemi then denied the French striker the goal he deserved with a low save nine minutes from time.

Southampton threw everything at Arsenal in a fractious final few minutes but the visitors held on.

Happy New Year Monsieur Wenger.