The Gunners, bolstered by two new signings equalised a Tadic free-kick on 18 minutes, with a spectacular Laurent Koscielny overhead kick with half an hour gone. As Southampton were pushed back, Arsenal won set-play opportunities.
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But deep into injury time under late pressure from the home side, Southampton conceded a penalty.
The Belgian striker struck against newly-promoted Middlesbrough with a powerful header in the 16th minute, after Wilfried Zaha’s cross. “In the second half it was much better”. Tadic’s effort forced a fingertip save from Petr Cech in the top corner, but the ball bounced off the crossbar, onto the keeper’s back and straight into the back of the net to hand the visitors a 1-0 advantage. The 23-year-old went down with an ankle problem but returned to the action and is in line to make his debut against Southampton.
There was further frustration when Sanchez fed Cazorla, who then drilled the ball into the box. Redmond nearly doubled his team’s lead on the counter, as Tadic fired a sharp ball in front of goal, but the 22-year-old youngster just couldn’t push it over the line.
Noise levels rose to fever pitch but the second goal would not come despite a Bellerin pile driver from the edge of the area that flew inches wide.
However, with Laurent Koscielny soon equalising, and Santi Cazorla netting a penalty in the final seconds of stoppage time, Mustafi was delighted to see Arsenal fight back and earn all three points. But, with the way he is going, signs are good for the Gunners this term.
“He is (in a) good way, but not completely ready for Southampton or Tuesday (when Arsenal face PSG in the UEFA Champions League),”supersport.com quoted Wenger as saying in his press conference on Friday”.
And Cech admits there is room for improvement in Arsenal’s game as they look to avoid the kind of start they endured in last season’s group stage when they lost their opening two games to Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos.
Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal had to wait until injury time to secure a win at the Emirates today.
Watford completed a remarkable comeback aided by hair-brained defending from West Ham after firing four unanswered goals in a thrilling 4-2 victory.
Redmond fired a rare Southampton chance over the bar, but it was all Arsenal toward the end of the match.
Saints’ had chances to retake the lead, with Long nodding a header over the bar from a good Redmond cross, but their lack of ruthlessness meant that Arsenal looked risky from every attack. Forster was on point to stop a Cazorla free-kick, while Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg gave Long the ideal opportunity for the victor, with the forward finding Cech in his path.
In response, Arsenal broke down the left but Giroud could only steer Cazorla’s cross into the side netting.
France worldwide Olivier Giroud came on as a second-half substitute on Saturday, and it was evident he provided something different to the Saints’ backline, eventually earning a penalty, which he himself never knew about.
Saints players protested furiously but did not distract Cazorla, who tucked away the 94th-minute penalty.
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The Premier League, however, is not a competition in which big clubs can take liberties with team selection and Southampton started the sharper and took a deserved lead.
