Southampton v Arsenal preview: No fresh injury concerns for Arsene Wenger

By Patrick Surlis

Image: James Ward-Prowse has a shot past the Arsenal defence during last season's 2-0 win for the Saints

Arsene Wenger has no new injury concerns as Arsenal prepare to face Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on Boxing Day.

The Gunners won their fourth straight with victory over Manchester City on Monday Night Football as Mesut Ozil recorded his 14th and 15th assists of the season in a man-of-the-match performance.

The Arsenal playmaker says his team have the belief to mount a title challenge, and they face a relatively friendly Christmas fixture list with all three matches against opposition currently in the bottom half of the Premier League table.

Image: Per Mertesacker (R) and Theo Walcott celebrate Arsenal's win over Manchester City

Home games against Bournemouth and Newcastle follow the visit to Southampton, with Ronald Koeman's side struggling for form.

The Saints have picked up just one point from their last five league matches, and Koeman could be without Maarten Stekelenburg again as the 'keeper faces a race against time to recover from a toe injury.

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Stekelenburg missed Southampton's 2-0 home defeat by Tottenham last weekend, but Koeman is hopeful the goalkeeper will be fit to face the Gunners. The Saints boss can otherwise select from the same squad that took on Spurs.

Also See:

Arsene Wenger feels that Arsenal are doing the right things to have a chance of winning the title

Wenger can pick an unchanged line-up from the victory over City, with Alexis Sanchez due back in early January and Mikel Arteta close to returning.

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Southampton will be looking to win successive league meetings against Arsenal for the first time since April 1988 after beating the Gunners 2-0 back in January.

Image: Southampton will be looking to Graziano Pelle to get them back among the goals

Arsenal have lost just one of their last 11 league games against Southampton (W6 D4 L1), but the Saints have lost just one of their last seven top flight games played on Boxing Day (W3 D3 L1).

Arsenal have won the most points away from home in 2015 so far (38).

Saints have never failed to win for six consecutive league games under Koeman, last doing so in December 2013 under Mauricio Pochettino.

Olivier Giroud has scored in five of Arsenal's last six away league matches.

Image: Olivier Giroud struck for Arsenal against Man City on Monday Night Football

Merson's prediction

I don't see Southampton getting worse, Koeman will go to work on the training ground and they will get better. This will be like a cup final for the Saints, they will be desperate to beat Arsenal, and you can bet your bottom dollar they won't play like they have over the last few weeks.

Image: Mesut Ozil put in a man-of-the-match performance against Man City

But for Arsenal, these are the games that win you the league titles and without a doubt Ozil is in the form of his Arsenal career right now. He's always been top drawer, but now the others are starting to get on his wavelength and I'm backing them to win again here.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-3 (16/1 with Sky Bet)

Betting

New outright favourites for the league title, Arsenal are 11/10 for the victory on Saturday, with Southampton 12/5 outsiders while the draw is also 12/5.

The Gunners were cut from 11/8 to 10/11 to win the title following their Monday Night Football triumph over Man City, who drifted out to 15/8.

Theo Walcott (6/1) and Giroud (9/2) head the first goalscorer betting after doing the damage against City, while Graziano Pelle is rated the hosts' biggest threat at 6/1 to break the deadlock.

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