Arsenal extended their unbeaten Premier League run in fine fashion against Southampton on Tuesday night, with a convincing win at St. Mary’s.

After falling behind to Stuart Armstrong’s early strike, the Gunners never looked back, levelling almost immediately through Nicolas Pepe before goals from Bukayo Saka and Alexandre Lacazette put the game to bed.

With captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang once again absent for personal reasons, Lacazette put in yet another accomplished performance up front. Read on below for our breakdown of why his upturn in form has been so important to Arsenal’s resurgence.

Prior to Christmas, Lacazette had only scored three times in 11 league games. Including his penalty in the 3-1 win at home to Chelsea on Boxing Day, he has netted five goals in six appearances. This has been, in no small part, thanks to a tactical tweak in the Frenchman’s positioning.

After Lacazette found success as a deep-lying forward throughout the course of the Europa League group stages, Mikel Arteta experimented with deploying him there domestically following the November international break. However, the added structure and solidity of Premier League defences meant Lacazette often struggled to get himself into dangerous shooting positions.

The introduction of Emile Smith-Rowe in attacking midfield was exactly what Arteta needed to do to get his side back amongst the goals. When Everton were 2-1 victors on 22 December, Arsenal hadn’t scored from open play in any of their last five away games in the league. Since then, they have managed eight goals in three away fixtures. Smith-Rowe’s ability to occupy the half spaces and draw out opposition defenders has allowed Lacazette to occupy more threatening areas around the six-yard box, thanks to starting in a more advanced role.

This was particularly evident in his finish against Southampton, where a perfectly weighted ball from Saka allowed Arsenal’s No.9 to poke the ball home with his left foot. When Lacazette is allowed to drift into those pockets of space between centre-backs, he is one of the most potent poachers in the league.

He also offers far more to Arsenal than tap-ins. Firing it in at the near post after killing the ball with his first touch has become somewhat of a trademark finish for Lacazette, as he demonstrated by scoring the winner at Brighton. For a striker, this is usually a sign of a good run of form. A clinical finish after closely controlling the ball takes some doing.

The centre-forward seems to have perfected this.

Lacazette’s return to form has resulted in Arteta’s men taking 16 points from the last 18 available and, after becoming the first Arsenal player to reach ten goals in all competitions, it is no coincidence.

Lacazette’s influence off the ball is just as integral to the way Arsenal play. When their pressing was muddled and disorientated in the autumn, Lacazette often led the line in attempting to win the ball back but failed to be supported by his team-mates. Against the Saints, he was ably and consistently backed up by the likes of Saka and Nicolas Pepe, who collectively hustled Southampton into making errors.

The absence of his striker partner and buddy Aubameyang will undoubtedly be a worry to Arsenal fans, just as the skipper seemed to be finding his own scoring boots again. The premature departures of Thomas Partey and Smith-Rowe were also a concern, as is the injury that forced Kieran Tierney out of action again.

A tricky upcoming fixture list sees Arsenal face both Manchester clubs, Wolves, Aston Villa, Leeds, and Leicester in the Premier League. This means the Gunners will have to be at their best to sustain this unbeaten run but, as long as Lacazette is fit and firing, they will fancy their chances against all of the above.

Zac Campbell

Follow @ZPRCampbell

Firstly let’s address the elephant in the room.

Last nights victory does not make up for limping out of the FA Cup in the manner we did on Saturday.

But our victory over Southampton was our best performance of the system.

The high press. The high energy. Attacking threat on both flanks and through the middle. Willing runners. And a 3-1 victory.

The 3-1 win over Southampton was our 5^th win in 6 Premier League games, starting with THAT win over Chelsea.

We have rocketed up the table, now in 8^th.

Just 4 points behind last years champions Liverpool, 5 points off a Champions League place.

It has been a tough old season but the recovery is happening.

Our January form of 3 wins, 1 draw is only bettered by West Ham (4 wins from 4) and Manchester City (5 wins from 5).

If anyone doubts the improvements made under Mikel Arteta since Unai Emery left, you only have to look at the league table 20 games in this year against last year:

It really highlights just how poor we were last season in comparison to this – despite our poor run of form under Mikel Arteta.

30 points from 20 games is still not good enough, and still a long way behind where we were at this stage in the 3 previous seasons prior to last. But the progress is clear.

What is impressive is that goals against column. Just 20 conceded.

Great teams are always built on a strong defence and Arsenal have the 4^th best defensive record in the Premier League.

We all know our problems are at the other end of the field, in attack.

14 goals in the last 6 games shows we are improving at that end of the pitch as well.

What sums up our improvement is the picture of Nicolas Pepe’s goal last night.

When the Ivorian slotted in, there were 3 players in the box that he could have squared to for a tap in. I have not seen Arsenal flood the box like this for some time.

We are seeing improvements on the pitch, and those improvements are translating into points on the table.

Whilst 4^th place would not make up for the way we exited the FA Cup, we would show the huge steps forward made under Arteta.

Taking into account that run of games where we could not win, even top 6would show solid improvement.

There is still a long way to go but for now, in the short term at least, it feels like we are moving forward.

Up next Manchester United…

Keenos

Misguided, immature, lacking respect are just 3 things that came to mind after Folarin Balogun posted up a video of one of his goals for the U23s as Arsenal were struggling to break down Southampton in the FA Cup.

Balogun is yet to sign a new deal with Arsenal and will be free to leave in the summer. Already his representatives can begin negoatiating with foreign clubs.

Reports are that Balogun’s reluctance to sign are due to a concern about playing time. Other reports say he wants pay parity to the likes of Bukayo Saka.The reality is, Balogun is a 19-year-old talented young footballer who is 5th choice striker at Arsenal and not yet done anything to prove that he can perform at Saka’s level.

If Balogun wants to play, if he wants to earn the big bucks at Arsenal, then he should sign the deal on the table. He should trust the coaches and management at Arsenal to guide his career rather than his agents.

Sign the new deal now, go out on loan for the rest of the season. Score a bucketfull of a goals.

Come the summer, his performances on loan could lead to Arsenal cashing in on Eddie Nketiah. It is likely Alexandre Lacazette will also leave as he will have just one year left on his contract.

That will see Arsenal’s striker options be Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Gabriel Martinelli and Folarin Balogun.

Balogun would be 3rd choice and be getting plenty of game time at 20-years-old. The task of both him and Martinelli would then be to progress enough over the next 2 seasons to show that they would be worthy of replacing Aubameyang.

This time next year, if he is putting in some good performances nd becoming a regular in the starting XI, then knock on Edu’s door again. Ask for a payrise.

The path for Balogun is clear. Everyone can see it. But he is either impatient or greedy. Neither trait is good to have for a young footballer making his way.

It is interesting to note that many of those on social media calling for Balogun to start, for Arsenal to “pay him what he wants” also demand William Saliba play week in week and. They are also those fans that have spent 8 months complaining about the treatment of Mesut Ozil. And they all have #ArtetaOut in their Twitter bio’s.

Their rating of Balogun (and Saliba) is not based on seeing him play week in week out for the U23s, following his career since he was 14. It seems to be a simple case of:

We hate Arteta for the way he treated Ozil so are going to hype up any young player he is not playing.

This has led to Balogun gaining a lot of “fan boys” despite being 19 andnot yet having started a game.

These fans are demanding him to start based on goals against Molde and Dundalk.

Let’s return to Eddie Nketiah for a bit.

Nketiah has received a lot of abuse online from these so called “fans” due to being given the chnce.

Eddie deserves his chance this season.

Everything Balogun is currently doing – scoring goals at youth level and nicking a couple against inferior opposition in Europe – Nketiah has also done.

Eddie also went to Leeds on loan and has waited patiently.

You feel those abusing Nketiah and hyping Balogun would be doing it the other way if Arteta had sold the senior man in the summer and promoted Balogun.

If Arsenal had have given Balogun a big contract, they would probably be criticising the club for giving a youngster so much money without doing much.

These fans view things in a biased manner. They will contradict themselves.

What Balogun needs to do is stay away from social media. Ignore those fans hyping him up. He is not yet a Nicolas Anelka or Thierry Henry. At the same age as Saka, he is levels below.

You feel the social media echo chamber is influencing him though.

Fans tweeting him every day telling him how great he is. That he should be starting ahead of Nketiah. That he is right to demand to play before signing a new deal.

What he does not realise is this menatality is not the mentality of someone Arteta will want to keep.

He ends up coming across as devisive, willing to trample over a colleague for a promotion.

An employee who thinks he is better than senior employees, despite having never proven anything. It does not make for a good workplace.

what people (and Balogun) fail to recognise is that it is not just Nketiah ahead of him,

Arsenal have two senior strikers in Aubameyang and Lacazette. Both are proven goal scorers.

Even if Eddie left tomorrow, Balogun would struggle to get much game time – Nketiah has played just 319 Premier League minutes.

And it is not just Nketiah who is ahead of Balogun; there is also Gabriel Martinelli.

Martinelli is just 3 weeks older than Balogun and is levels ahead.

It is only injury that has limited the Brazilian’s game time this season. And there is a school of thought that had he not picked up that injury, Arsenal would have sold Lacazette last summer with Martinelli providing cover for Aubameyang.

Does anyone out there think that Balogun is better than Martinelli?

Poll – Whose our best you striker ??

— 🎗 ///SHE WORE/// 🎗 (@SheWore) January 24, 2021

So even if Nketiah left, Balogun would still not be getting that game time as it would be going to a fit-again Martinelli.

We have seen talented young strikers at Arsenal before – Benik Afobe and Chuba Akpom in recent years. Balogun is not doing any more than these two at youth level. Neither made it at Arsenal.

Why should Arsenal give Balogun game time when he has not signed a new contract?

Those that say they stand by Balogun refusing to sign a new deal until he plays have got it the wrong way round.

A young player should prove his loyalty to a club, not the other way round.

It is the equivalent of an employee handing in his notice and then demanding he be promoted ahead of colleagues who deserve it more.

Any manager would tell that employee where to go. That they are not ready for the promotion but give it a year or 18 months and they would be ready. That he should not be holding the company to ransom by demanding a promotion otherwise he will quit.

If Balogun wants the opportunites currently being given to Nketiah, then he should sign a new contract.

He can not expect to be given that chance when he could leave in 6 months.

And ultimately, the argument should not be between Nketiah and Balogun.

With everyone fit, they are 4th and 5th choice striker.

Most Energy should be put into Martinelli. He has already shown he will probably end up being one of the best players in the world. Unfortunately the problem with Balogun is he is not showing any commitments to the club.

— tedd (@tedde_edwards) January 24, 2021

Martinelli is the future.

Keenos