66' GREAT PLAY! Arsenal are struggling to get out of their own half now. Ings skips beyond a number of defenders before forcing a save from Leno from an acute angle. The Gunners are struggling at present.
65' Valery’s cross from the right loops high into the air after taking a deflection off Pepe, and Leno is quickly off his line to punch the ball away to safety.
63' Cedric releases Saka down the right with a well-weighted forward pass across the field. The winger squares up to his man before cutting onto his left foot, but he lashes his strike well wide of the far post after choosing to ignore Lacazette’s run.
62' Hasenhuttl’s team are enjoying a good spell of possession at present. Vokins receives the ball down the left, and his cross cannons out for a throw-in off Saka.
60' CLOSE! Cedric skips beyond Valery and drives into the box. The full-back looks for Lacazette, but his low pass ricochets off numerous Southampton defenders before the ball is eventually cleared to safety just in front of the goal line.
58' There is going to be a momentary break in play as Luiz is down. After taking some time to recover, the Brazilian is back to his feet and appears fine to continue.
56' Southampton continue to struggle with Arsenal’s pace down the flanks. Bellerin this time finds space down the right to whip a cross into the area, but Pepe’s touch just takes it away from Lacazette, who had drifted into a promising area.
55' In the first half, 55 per cent of Arsenal’s attacks came down the left-hand side of the field.
53' OPENING! Arsenal once again win the ball high up the pitch through Xhaka. Cedric slides Smith Rowe in behind down the left side of the box, and he beats the onrushing McCarthy with a deft effort, but Stephens is quick to get back and clear the ball from inside the six-yard box.
51' Following a foul from Vokins on Saka, Smith Rowe whips the resulting free-kick into the box from the right. Pepe lets it run and Stephen hooks it to safety before Xhaka catches Adams’ heels as he looked to drive the hosts forward.
49' SAVE! Armstrong picks the ball up for the Saints and threads a pass inside for Walcott. From the edge of the box, the winger tries his luck, but fires straight at Leno.
47' McCarthy fires a long, searching pass forward, but it catches Vokins in an offside position.
46' We are back underway! Friend, the referee, blows his whistle and Arsenal get the second half kicked off.
After being opened up too easily on numerous occasions, Hasenhuttl will be hoping for a better display from his team after the restart. Offensively, Armstrong has looked lively, but the Saints have been far too exposed at the back, with Arsenal often finding space in behind their high defensive line. Arteta, meanwhile, will be pleased with his side’s first-half performance. Despite the early setback, the Gunners did not let their heads drop. Lacazette has frequently peeled into pockets of space to pull the strings, while Saka has constantly threatened with overlapping runs.
Following an end-to-end opening half, Arsenal lead Southampton at the break. When Lacazette squandered a golden opportunity to break the deadlock after just one minute, Armstrong made the Gunners pay two minutes later, firing beyond Leno from a clever set-piece routine. Their lead, however, was short-lived. Pepe equalised moments later, before Saka found the net after rounding McCarthy just before half-time to send Arsenal in at the break with a one-goal lead.
45' + 3' HALF TIME: SOUTHAMPTON 1-2 ARSENAL
45' + 1' JUST WIDE! Diallo tries his luck from range after some good work from Armstrong, but his effort from outside the box misses to the right of Leno’s goal.
45' There will be two minutes of added time at the end of the first half.
43' Saka sends a lofted throughball down the right for Lacazette to chase, although the flag went up for offside against the Frenchman, who had got in behind of Southampton’s high line once again.
42' PENALTY? Following a cross into the Saints’ box from the left, Lacazette goes down under pressure from Vokins and turns to the referee asking for a penalty. The incident goes to VAR, but no penalty is awarded.
40' Stephens catches Lacazette and the Gunners win a free-kick deep inside the hosts’ half.
38' Luiz gives the ball away to Walcott in a dangerous position deep inside the away side’s half. The Englishman picks his head up and attempts to switch the play over to the left for Adams, who had peeled into space, but the pass is overhit. That is a wasted opportunity.
37' Armstrong picks the ball up midway inside the visitors’ half and drives beyond both Lacazette and Bellerin, before sending a cross into the box. Holding is alert to the danger and heads the delivery to safety.
35' Cedric is too eager to regain possession for Arsenal and clips Valery along the right wing. The free-kick is awarded to Southampton.
33' After his role in the opening goal, only Matthew Le Tissier (63) has registered more Premier League assists for Southampton than Ward-Prowse, who is level on 27 with Dusan Tadic.
31' Pepe goes to ground after being caught by Bednarek, and the Gunners win a free-kick down the left flank.
29' DECENT EFFORT! The hosts are pushing on in their search to retake the lead. Armstrong picks the ball up down the left side of the Arsenal penalty area, drifts inside and onto his right foot, and bends a strike just wide to the right of Leno’s goal.
27' NOT FAR AWAY! A quick Southampton counter sees the host break the visitors’ press. Following some clever build-up play, Ings works it over to the right for Valery, who cuts onto his left foot and curls a shot wide of the far post from the edge of the box.
25' Pepe looks for Lacazette, but the striker made his run a fraction too early and is flagged as offside.
24' SMART STOP! After some neat play down the left-hand side, Vokins whips an inviting cross into the heart of the Arsenal box. Unmarked, Adams steers a header towards goal, and Leno makes a fine diving save to claw the ball out when it looked destined for the top-left corner.
22' The Saints have looked vulnerable to balls in behind thus far. Their high line is allowing the away side to find space, which is something that Hasenhuttl may look to adjust.
20' Bellerin receives the ball from Saka in an advanced position, and the Spaniard lofts a cross in towards the far post. Pepe nods it down for Lacazette, but Bednarek calmly eases it back to McCarthy.
19' CHANCE! The resulting set-piece from Ward-Prowse is swung into a dangerous area, but Ings’ goal-bound flick is tame and easily gathered by Leno.
17' The Saints launch a dangerous break through Walcott, who was picked out by Adams. The Englishman gets to the edge of the Arsenal box, but pulls his shot well wide of the far post.
16' Following that equaliser, Pepe has now scored in consecutive top-flight starts for the first time.
14' INCHES WIDE! Arsenal once again advance down the right, with Saka creating space to float the ball into a dangerous area. The looping cross falls to Cedric on the edge of the box, and his ambitious right-footed volley just bends wide of the far post. McCarthy was worried by that effort.
13' Vokins looks to close Saka down early, although he clatters through the back of him and the Gunners win a free-kick in the Southampton half.
11' Diallo skips away from Lacazette before being impeded by the Frenchman. Free-kick to the Saints midway inside their own half.
10' Saka is at the heart of everything for the visitors at the moment. On this occasion, he wins a corner to the left of Valery, but Bednarek rises to nod it to safety.
7' After that opening goal, Ward-Prowse has now recorded back-to-back assists at home in the Premier League for the first time since December 2016.
5' CLOSE! Saka does well to drive down the right flank and win a corner off Stephens. The delivery finds Holding in the middle of the box, but his header fizzes beyond the far post.
1' WHAT A CHANCE! Bednarek plays a lacklustre forward pass that goes only as far as Xhaka, who sets Lacazette through one-on-one with a well-placed throughball. The Frenchman sets himself on his right foot, but McCarthy is quickly off his line to thwart the attacker from the centre of the box. The Saints are lucky to not be behind!
1' Kick off! The referee, Kevin Friend, blows his whistle and Southampton get the game underway.
The teams are out, and kick-off will soon be upon us here at St. Mary’s Stadium.
Arsenal are looking to record back-to-back away Premier League wins against Southampton for the first time since winning in March and August 1997 under Arsene Wenger.
Southampton come into this clash having failed to win five of their last six Premier League fixtures. Their last victory, however, came at home against Liverpool. Should the hosts win against their visitors, then they may climb to seventh in the table. Having endured an inconsistent start to the campaign, Arsenal’s form has picked up in recent weeks. The Gunners have lost just one of their last six top-flight matches, which came against Everton at Goodison Park. Since then, Arteta’s side have conceded just one goal, keeping clean sheets in each of their previous four matches. Currently in 11th, a win tonight would see the visitors move into the top half and above the Saints.
Ralph Hasenhuttl makes three changes from his side that beat Arsenal last time out in the FA Cup. Ryan Bertrand misses out through suspension, while Kyle Walker-Peters is also unavailable due to a quad injury. In their place, both Valery and Vokins come in to start. McCarthy is also selected ahead of Forster. Mikel Arteta, meanwhile, makes four alterations from the fourth-round defeat at St Mary’s Stadium. Elneny, Willian, Martinelli and Nketiah drop to the bench as Partey, Saka, Smith Rowe and Lacazette are recalled. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is not in the squad due to personal reasons, while Kieran Tierney is suffering from a calf problem.
ARSENAL SUBS: Mat Ryan, Calum Chambers, Gabriel Magalhaes, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Mohamed Elneny, Joseph Willock, Willian, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah.
SOUTHAMPTON SUBS: Fraser Forster, Kayne Ramsey, Alexandre Jankewitz, Kgagelo Chauke, Caleb Watt, Will Ferry, Nathan Redmond, Daniel N'Lundulu, Shane Long.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Bernd Leno; Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, David Luiz, Cedric Soares; Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka; Nicolas Pepe, Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka; Alexandre Lacazette.
SOUTHAMPTON (4-4-2): Alex McCarthy; Yan Valery, Jan Bednarek, Jack Stephens, Jake Vokins; Stuart Armstrong, Ibrahima Diallo, James Ward-Prowse, Theo Walcott; Che Adams, Danny Ings.
Prior to their FA Cup triumphs over both Shrewsbury and Arsenal, respectively, Southampton's last top-flight match ended in a 2-0 defeat against Leicester City. The Gunners, on the other hand, beat Newcastle 3-0 in the league before their fourth-round FA Cup exit.
Hello and welcome to live match coverage of the Premier League fixture between Southampton and Arsenal at St. Mary’s Stadium.