After Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa, Arsene Wenger came into the Capital One Cup with confidence in his attackers. He omitted star names such as Mesut Ozil, Danny Welbeck, Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshire, and Alex Oxelade-Chamberlain as well as their entire back four in order to rest them for their huge match up against cross-town rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Wojciech Szczesny made way for new signing David Ospina so that he could finally make his debut for the club.
Arsenal was given an early free kick in the 14th minute 25-yards from the goal. Lucas Podolski and Alexis Sanchez stood at the ball, which surly scared Forster. Sanchez skillfully placed the ball over the wall and into the near post, leaving Forster standing still.
Just six minutes later though, Thomas Rosicky stuck a leg out inside the box to catch Mane and give up a penalty. Dusan Tadic looked to score his first Southampton goal and took the spot-kick. Even though Ospina was fairly close to the ball, he could not keep it out of the net.
Southampton looked keen to stay in the competition and was willing to get by Arsenal to do so. Shortly before the half, Southampton’s cleared corner found itself at the feet of Nathaniel Clyne, whose cracking shot from far outside the box found its way past Ospina, who was in good position to get a hand to it. Southampton then led 2-1.
Arsenal attacked well in the second half, keeping possession of the ball and getting close to the goal a number of times but could not reach the back of the net. Southampton stood firmly and defended to the death and still was able to attack a few times as well.
In the end, Southampton walked away winners and advanced into the Round 4 round of the Capital One Cup. They will find out who they will play after tomorrow’s games and drawing. Southampton currently sits in second in the Premier League just three points behind Chelsea; surely, their season is going according to plan.
Arsenal, on the other hand, has not been able to recreate the success they had last season. They are now left with the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup (later in the season), of which they are defending Champions. They will need to make sure that they can take home at least one of these titles in order to keep the momentum of last season going. Their performance as a team and individually has not been up to Arsenal standards consistently. Ozil, Arteta and company have been suffering from poor form and need to regain it in order to win some points back and fight for titles. Currently, Arsenal sits in a decent, and familiar, fourth place, four points behind the leaders, Chelsea. Many things could change this weekend as three points separate teams from ninth and second place.
Here is a round-up of Tuesday’s Capital One Cup scores:
- Arsenal 1-2 Southampton
- Cardiff 0-3 Bournemouth
- Derby 2-0 Reading
- Leyton Orient 0-1 Sheffield United
- Liverpool 2-2 Middlesbrough (Liverpool win 14-13 on pens)
- MK Dons 2-0 Bradford
- Shrewsbury 1-0 Norwich
- Sunderland 1-2 Stoke
- Swansea 3-0 Everton
- Fulham 2-1 Doncaster
Here are Wednesday’s (Sept. 24th) Capital One Cup Match-ups:
- Albion v. Hull
- Burton v. Brighton
- Chelsea v. Bolton
- Manchester City v. Sheffield Wednesday
- Crystal Palace v. Newcastle
- Tottenham v. N. Forest
