Arteta expecting tricky test against lowly Saints

Mikel Arteta believes last weekend’s late win over Leicester City will act as a useful reminder as to the difficulty of every Premier League game.

The Gunners were expected to steamroller the top-flight new-boys but had to rely on a 94th-minute own goal from Wilfred Ndidi and a 99th-minute strike from Kai Havertz to see them to a 4-2 win.

Arsenal beat Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 in midweek but return to league action tomorrow when they host another newly promoted club, Southampton.

The Saints have taken just one point from their six games this season and sit second from bottom but Arteta says it won’t be an easy game.

He said: “We know the significance and difficulty of the match. Last week the tough schedule that we have was proven and any opponent can cause you problems. 

“When you think the game is under control, it can get out of your hands immediately, so it was probably a good thing to happen the way it ended up. 

“We know the quality of Southampton and in my opinion, they’re a team who are extremely well coached. They have a very clear philosophy, and they’ve been very unlucky not to have many more points because there were moments in the games when they were far better than the opponent and in some moments the results got away from them. It will be very tough.”

Raising the bar 📶

📺 Go Inside Training ahead of our game against Southampton 👇

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 4, 2024

Ramsdale’s Return

Tomorrow’s game will see Arsenal come up against former goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, who left the Emirates for the south coast at the end of August.

Ramsdale spent the first part of last season vying for the number one spot with David Raya before the Spaniard became a regular.

“I called him straight away when I got the news [of his transfer] and he was really happy,” added Arteta. “He is a player that we loved a lot, very charismatic and he really put his fingerprints here on the club with the way that he was. It’ll be very good to see him.

“He won the respect and admiration of all of us. Then the circumstances changed because this is elite sport and that can happen. It was difficult to deal with that situation in a natural way so we decided to part ways and hopefully he is grateful as well.”

Arsenal will hope to have Jurrien Timber, who came off at half-time against PSG, and Ben White, who has been absent for the past there games with a groin injury, available.