Saints spike Arsenal big guns

Southampton 1 Arsenal 1

Theo Walcott, who scored a hat-trick and created two other goals against Newcastle, curled in the free kick that Guly Do Prado deflected into his own net two minutes after Gaston Ramirez had given Southampton the lead, but otherwise he was anonymous on his return to the club that gave him his start, as were most of the Arsenal players.

Arsene Wenger, the manager, was at a loss to explain. “We didn’t create a lot after having scored five at Reading, seven against Newcastle,” he said. “The goal chances we created were not a lot and our game lacked purpose, lacked penetration, lacked speed – all the qualities that we usually have and that we didn’t see tonight.