Having dropped five points before the worldwide break, losing the opening match to Liverpool before a stalemate at Leicester City, Wenger would have been well aware that a second consecutive failure on his own patch would have left the Gunners seven adrift of leaders Manchester City.
Advertisement
Wenger revealed Koscielny has a “problem” with the swelling a particular concern with just two days until Arsenal travel to Paris for their opening Champions League Group Stage tie.
“It is disappointing as in all of our games I think “we can win”.
“We played with good possibilities, we scored”.
“When you lose the first home game you can not afford to drop points in the second”. 67 minutes in, he missed the first of his two big chances, while at the other end, Arsenal contrived to miss a number of quasi-sitters. But I think we are getting the results that we need and this is the most important sometimes when you are playing and you know not everything is happening the way you want, that you find a way to win games.
After the break, Southampton changed their approach as they sat deep, welcoming Arsenal to try to break them down, while also trying to play in substitute Shane Long up top.
As well as his eye injury, Koscielny equalised with a spectacular overhead kick after Dusan Tadic’s free-kick had gone back into the Arsenal net off Petr Cech.
Laurent Koscielny’s stunning bicycle kick goal was the ideal way for the Frenchman to celebrate his 31st birthday.
Arsene Wenger, to his credit, has set about attempting to ensure that his squad has enough depth to last the pace this season with the summer signings of Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mutsafi – both of whom have Champions League as well as top-level worldwide experience.
Wenger added: “I feel both are short on competition and their second half was much better than their first half”. “Both Perez and Mustafi were surprised by the pace and commitment”.
It was Kane’s first in 10 games for club and country and his 50th Premier League goal in 87 top-flight appearances as he reached a welcome landmark ahead of the start of Spurs’ Champions League campaign next week. After Watford, before the worldwide break, this is the second consecutive win for the Gunners who are not sitting in the first half of the standings.
Advertisement
Three points, but not super convincing; questions remain, but for another day.
