FROM little acorns mighty oaks do grow.
So Hector Bellerin can finally get out his seed drill after pledging to plant 3000 trees for every Arsenal victory.
Eddie Nketiah pounced on Alex McCarthy’s horrible error to open the scoringCredit: Getty Images – Getty
The Spanish eco-warrior must have feared he would be living in a desert after his team’s botched attempts to come out of lockdown.
But now he will be hoping that this long-overdue win will prove to be the first green shoot of Arsenal’s recovery.
Mikel Arteta’s team may still be stumbling around in the Premier League’s no-man’s land, but at least they are moving in the right direction again.
Goals from Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock more than justified Arteta’s ruthless team selection after running out of patience with some of his pampered stars.
It was hardly surprising that there was no sign of Matteo Guendouzi after the young Frenchman had thrown his toys out of the pram at Brighton at the weekend.
Arteta put his absence down to ‘squad management’. As in, the squad can manage very well without him thanks very much.
Yet even with eight senior stars injured or suspended, there was still no place in the starting line-up for Mesut Ozil.
The £350,000-a-week German might as well have been put on furlough by Arsenal for all the good he’s been since the launch of Project Restart.
“I put the best players on the pitch that are 100 percent focussed to win the game,” Arteta explained.
The forward celebrates with strike partner AubameyangCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Joe Willock fired home a second for Arsenal – his first Premier League goalCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
And what a damning indictment of Ozil’s contribution that is as he spent the afternoon hiding from the scorching sun under an umbrella.
Arteta has clearly decided that it’s kids such as Nketiah, Willock and Bukayo Saka who are more deserving of his faith as he tries to get his team back on track.
So he will have been encouraged by this much-needed return to winning ways against a curiously lethargic Saints team.
They took the game to their opponents right from the start and had the ball in the net after eight minutes but Saka had strayed just offside before teeing up Nicolas Pepe.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, looking to mark his 100th Arsenal appearance with his 50th Premier League goal, struck the bar with a fierce rising shot two minutes later.
Southampton might have taken the captaincy off Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg because he won’t sign a new contract, but Aubameyang continues to wear the Arsenal armband despite the continuing uncertainty surrounding his future.
And while Arsenal have sorted out the contracts of David Luiz, Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares this week, Aubameyang’s reluctance to put pen to paper continues to give Arteta sleepless nights.
At least there is no sign of him chucking in the towel like so many of his senior colleagues appear to have done in recent weeks.
He is clearly an inspiration to Nketiah, who never stopped running in his efforts to impress his superstar attacking partner.
And it was the Nketiah’s willingness to chase everything which led to Arsenal’s 21st minute breakthrough.
Alex McCarthy appeared to have all the time in the world to deal with Jan Bednarek’s back-pass but decided to take an unnecessary extra touch and suddenly found himself with Nketiah bearing down on him.
Arsenal celebrate their third away win of the seasonCredit: AFP or licensors
Bellerin vowed to plant 3,000 trees for every Arsenal winCredit: AP:Associated Press
Boss Mikel Arteta picked up his first away win as Arsenal bossCredit: Reuters
By the time he decided to put his foot through the ball, it was far too late for McCarthy as his attempted clearance was charged down by the Arsenal youngster.
McCarthy had already got away with one poor clearance earlier in the day but there was to be no let-off this time as Nketiah ran the ball unchallenged into the empty net.
Southampton, so impressive in last week’s comeback win at Norwich, were finding life much tougher this time.
They barely tested stand-in keeper Emiliano Martinez, who was making his first Premier League appearance since a 3-2 defeat at Stoke way back in December 2014.
The big Argentine almost turned creator when he launched a long clearance to send Aubameyang haring away from the labouring Saints defence.
But the Arsenal captain opted to square for Nketiah and Bednarek was able to dive in and divert the cross inches wide of his own goal.
Danny Ings briefly threatened to punish Arsenal for their failure to put the game to bed when he unleashed a ferocious 78th minute shot which Martinez did well to turn away.
But any suggestion of a late Saints comeback was ended when centre-half Jack Stephens was sent-off for tripping Aubameyang on the edge of the area following another dreadful back-pass from Hojbjerg.
Alex Lacazette belted his free-kick straight into the wall and drilled the follow-up straight at McCarthy.
But the Saints keeper was unable to hold onto the ball and substitute Willock made no mistake from the follow-up.
Crisis averted for now. But Arsenal are not out of the woods just yet.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta gives cheeky smile when asked about transfer for Atletico’s Thomas Partey
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
