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2022/23 English Premier League
Matchday 32
Arsenal v Southampton
Emirates Stadium
London, England
Friday, 21 April 2023
Kick-off is at 21h00
Arsenal will look to get their
Premier League title challenge back to track when they welcome rock-bottom Southampton to the Emirates Stadium on Friday, April 21.
The Gunners have let Manchester City back into the championship race after dropping more points in a 2-2 draw with West Ham at the London Stadium last Sunday.
Mikel Arteta's side squandered a two-goal lead for the second match in succession, having also played out to a 2-2 draw with Liverpool at Anfield the previous weekend.
The Citizens beat Leicester 3-1 at the King Power Stadium last Saturday to close within four points of the league leaders in second place with a game in hand.
Manchester United climbed back above Newcastle into third position courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground after the Magpies suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa a day prior.
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The Saints remain odds-on favourites for the drop after a 2-0 loss to Crystal Palace at St Mary's last Saturday left them four points adrift of safety at the foot of the table.
Ruben Selles' team are now winless in their last six outings and have lost three on the spin, although the Foxes have endured a similar poor run of results and find themselves just two points better off in 19th spot.
Forest (18th) and Everton (17th) are tied on 27 points after they both lost this past weekend too, while Leeds have a two-point cushion to the relegation zone in 16th place.
Gabriel Jesus continues to impress on his debut season at Arsenal, scoring for the third game in a row against the Hammers after making his comeback from a knee injury last month. The Brazilian striker has now registered nine goals and six assists since making the switch from City in the off-season.
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Carlos Alcaraz is starting to become acclimatised to his new surroundings on the south coast after making his sixth start against the eagles since arriving from Racing Club in January. The Argentine midfielder has scored two goals in 11 appearances for Southampton but has gone six games without a goal.
In team news, the hosts continue to be without Mohamed Elneny, Takehiro Tomiyasu (both knee), William Saliba (back) and Oleksandr Zinchenko (groin), while Mohamed Salisu, Mislav Orsic (both groin), Juan Larios (thigh) and Valentino Livramento remain on the treatment table for the visitors. Ainsley Maitland-Niles is ineligible to face his parent club and Che Adams (calf) faces a late fitness test.
Arteta felt the Gunners allowed their neighbours back into the game by not killing them off earlier at the London Stadium, while also admitting that sloppy defending was another contributing factor.
"We needed that ruthless mindset in that moment to go and kill the team. When a team is there for the killing, you have to kill it. Today we haven't done it," the Spaniard said.
"When you don't do that in the Premier League, at some stage they're going to turn around and have some momentum. Then you have to defend much better, for example with the second goal. If you don't, you won't win the game."
Selles has urged his players to keep fighting for every point on offer for the remainder of the season in a bid to pull off the great escape.
"We will keep going forward and we will keep fighting for every point that is in front of us," the Spaniard declared.
"We will try to keep that winning mentality - I know we are not getting a lot, especially in the last games, but we are going to try to go for every game, try to win every game and try to compete at our very best."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Arsenal - 2
Southampton - 1
Draws - 2
Matchday 32 fixtures:
Friday, April 21
20h00: Arsenal v Southampton
Saturday, April 22
12h30: Fulham v Leeds United
15h00: Brentford v Aston Villa
15h00: Crystal Palace v Everton
15h00: Leicester City v Wolverhampton Wanderers
15h00: Liverpool v Nottingham Forest
Sunday, April 23
14h00: Bournemouth v West Ham United
14h00: Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
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