Arsenal Goals
Three of Arsenal’s four first half goals were as a direct result of this inside movement from forwards, whilst the fullbacks overlapped with width.
The first, an own goal after 12mins was as a result of Lukas Podolski coming inside and Gibbs moving into the space he had evacuated. Gibbs burst into the box and was played in by Podolski (who had evaded a few challenges) to drill in a cross which was eventually bundled in by the unsighted Hooiveld.
The third goal for Arsenal similarly involved this fluid movement. Oxlade-Chamberlain (AOC) moved inside, with Lallana drifting infield (small circle). Coquelin (FC) pushed forward (resulting in Davis dropping leaving the midfield trio too square). Finally, the space left by Lallana coming inside was exploited by both Jenkinson (out of shot but run shown by CJ) and Gervinho. Gervinho’s run (large circle) towards the ball and back out left new substitute Maya badly exposed and he finished strongly.
Finally, Arsenal’s fourth goal also resulted from moving into the space around the deep midfielder, with Gibbs again the player to give the assist to another own goal.
The midfield five of Southampton (highlighted in red) was again exposed by inside runners – Coquelin (FC), Podolski (LP) and Gervinho (Ger) – and it was Gervinho who fed the run of Gibbs (circled).
An error by Szczesny allowed Southampton to pull one back before the break but the result was already beyond doubt.
Next Page: Second Half Thoughts and Conclusion
