Big tests lie ahead, cautions Wenger

Arsenal 6 Southampton 1

But it would be a stretch too far to imagine the Gunners going through the fixtures unbeaten again.

For after the four-game phoney war, the season now starts in earnest for both clubs. This match marked only the first goal Arsenal have conceded in an unbeaten start to the season, but they are yet to face a team manager Wenger considers true rivals. That changes next weekend when they go to champions Manchester City before hosting Chelsea in their next home game.

Southampton, meanwhile, are winless and pointless after four games and this result marked their biggest Premier League defeat since they also lost by the same score to the same team in May 2003.

Now they have City, Manchester United and Arsenal out of the way, manager Nigel Adkins can start preparing for the less daunting prospects of Aston Villa, Everton and Fulham.

Wenger, whose side travel to Montpellier in tomorrow’s Champions League match, said: “We will only know if we’re a better team in the future. Last year, we had a very bad start but were quite strong as a team for a big part of the season. But this year we have had the luck and started better. Last year we were already out of the title race in September so that was difficult mentally. Let’s see. The vibes coming out are that we look like a real team and we enjoy playing together and that’s a good basis. We will know after 10 games if we are title contenders. I think we have a chance. But do we develop well, do we keep our attitude?

“I think we have a chance but at the moment I don’t know how strong our opponents are. We’ve not played against any of the title contenders yet. We won the championship in 2004 and we played against Chelsea in November the following season and I finished the game thinking: ‘We’ve just played against the new champions.’

“It will be important to see how we do against the bigger teams. It will be interesting. It will be a test Sunday.”

Adkins agreed that his team’s season now really begins in earnest, adding: “The reality of it all has been highlighted. All the media have written about the fixture list. It was a tough start and it has proven to be that way, especially with this result, but it has given us that belief we are doing the right thing.

Ultimately, now it is making sure we continue the resolve to score goals and keep them out at the other end. We haven’t won and I am used to winning. I want to win all the time. I want to find a way. Sometimes you have to acknowledge you are playing against very, very good players but you still want to find a way to win. I am the biggest analyser of everything I do.”

And with that, Adkins departed to pick Wenger’s brain, something he says he does with every opposing manager after a match.

He would have learnt from this match that Southampton cannot dream of competing at this level if they concede possession so easily to a team of Arsenal’s skillset. They could have conceded well before a Kieran Gibbs shot ended with Jos Hooiveld turning the ball into his own net after 10 minutes. Resistance was completely broken when Lukas Podolski doubled Arsenal’s lead from a long-range free-kick after 31 minutes. Gervinho got the first of his two goals three minuets later and a Nathaniel Clyne own goal made it four inside 37 minutes. A howler of a dropped cross by Wojciech Szcsesny gifted Daniel Fox Southampton’s goal on the stroke of half-time, but there was an air of inevitability about Gervinho and substitute Theo Walcott increasing Arsenal’s lead in the second half.

ARSENAL: Szczesny 5, Jenkinson 6, Mertesacker 7, Vermaelen 7, Gibbs 7 Oxlade-Chamberlain 8, Arteta 7, Coquelin 7, Cazorla 8, Podolski 8, (Giroud 74, 6), Gervinho 8, (Walcott 74, 6). Not used: Mannone, Koscielny, Santos, Arshavin.

SOUTHAMPTON: Davis 5, Clyne 6, Schneiderlin 5, Hooiveld 4, (Yoshida 28, 6), Fonte 5, Lambert 5, (Rodriguez 76, 5), Davis 5 (Ramirez 45, 6), Fox 6, Ward-Prowse 5, Lallana 5, Puncheon 5. Not used: Gazzaniga, Chaplow, Richardson, Mayuka.

Referee: Kevin Friend 7.