“He walked up to me after the match to tell me how much the dressing room misses me, but he is the only Arsenal player that felt sick after my departure”- Aaron Ramsdale reveals the One Arsenal player who played well last night and checked on him constantly during his trying times when he left the club to join Southampton last summer
“He walked up to me after the match to tell me how much the dressing room misses me, but he is the only Arsenal player that felt sick after my departure”- Aaron Ramsdale reveals the One Arsenal player who played well last night and checked on him constantly during his trying times when he left the club to join Southampton last summer
Arsenal have picked up a 3-1 win against Southampton in the Premier League.
The Gunners started the game in magnificent style and were all over the Saints. However, they couldn’t get a goal past Aaron Ramsdale in the first half.
Arsenal started the second half in sloppy fashion. Cameron Archer gave Southampton the lead and that woke the Gunners up.
Kai Havertz equalised almost immediately before Gabriel Martinelli found the net to give them the lead. Bukayo Saka added a late goal to seal the game.
Asked in his post-match press conference what he said to Ramsdale, Arteta said: “I wished him all the best and congratulated him for the way that they played as well. I wish him the best and I hope they do – especially for the manager and Aaron because they are a really good side.”
Ramsdale left with Arteta’s blessing in August, with Raya well established as his first-choice goalkeeper. He made 89 appearances for Arsenal over three years with the club and has nothing but praise for the way they handled his exit.
“What he did for me in my time at Arsenal, I can only thank him for, and he thanked me for my contribution [when leaving],” Ramsdale said to talkSPORT recently. “Not just myself but as a football club, getting back into the Champions League, pushing for a trophy.
“Ultimately, as managers do and top managers do, they have to make decisions which will upset people. He made that decision and we still speak. I’m obviously looking forward to getting some games under my belt here and we have Arsenal in a few weeks which will be a nice return.”
He decided to swap a shot at trophies for a relegation battle for one reason. “If I was sitting on the bench, it [winning a trophy] wouldn’t have meant that much to me,” Ramsdale told Football Focus. “I just wanted to play football. As a kid I wanted to play football to play, not to just sit on a bench. Getting out and playing was my aim so I’m lucky I found myself here at Southampton.”
Arsenal player ratings vs Southampton
David Raya: 7/10
Raya had nothing to do in the first half and he couldn’t do much with the goal in the second. He will be frustrated to have conceded, though.
Thomas Partey: 7/10
Partey started at right back for the first time in over a year, and he had a decent game there but did not overlap as much as a natural right-back would. He did have two shots at goal and was arguably unlucky to not score.
William Saliba: 6/10
Saliba deserves some blame for Southampton’s goal. The Frenchman, surprisingly, allowed Cameron Archer to cut inside, and that gave him the space he needed to score.
Gabriel Magalhaes: 7.5/10
Gabriel had a solid game once again in the heart of the defence. The Brazilian is getting better and better every week, but we’re sure he will be disappointed to have not troubled Ramsdale during set-pieces.
Riccardo Calafiori: 8.5/10
Calafiori was outstanding once again. The Italian looks so calm on the ball, is very brave while attacking, and just has this incredible aura about him. Another fantastic display.
Jorginho: 7/10
Jorginho was deployed in Partey’s usual position against the Saints and he did well. He controlled the game as well as he could and didn’t have much to do defensively.
Declan Rice: 7.5/10
Rice worked very hard from midfield yet again. He ran all game, was tidy on the ball and did whatever little defensive work he had without too much trouble.
Raheem Sterling: 7/10
Sterling got his first Premier League start for Arsenal against the Saints and he looked really sharp. He got himself into a few good positions and came close to winning a penalty too. But, it was his loss of possession that led to Southampton’s goal.
Kai Havertz: 9/10
Havertz was outstanding once again. We didn’t like that he was pushed back to a midfield role, but he did really well. His movement was outstanding, his work rate was terrific and he scored a stunning goal too.
Bukayo Saka: 9.5/10
Saka was absolutely fantastic against the Saints. He troubled their defenders from the first minute of the game and then ended up picking up two assists in the second half. He scored a brilliant goal late in the game too. Outstanding performance!
Gabriel Jesus: 4/10
Arteta made the surprise decision to hand Jesus a start, but it didn’t quite work. The Brazilian started well and looked sharp, but he just disappeared as the game went on. Jesus even angered Saka when he failed to pass the ball to him – that decision could’ve cost Arsenal. Luckily, it didn’t.
Substitutes
Leandro Trossard: 8/10
Trossard came off the bench and instantly lifted Arsenal’s level. He did everything that Jesus should’ve done and showed why he is above the Brazilian in the pecking order.
Gabriel Martinelli: 8.5/10
Martinelli brought some much-needed energy into the game and that helped Arsenal massively. He scored a very good goal as well to give them the lead. A great performance from the Brazilian.
Mikel Merino: 6/10
It was great to see Merino again. The Spaniard didn’t do anything spectacular, but he did what he had to do to help Arsenal get over the line.
Takehiro Tomiyasu: 5/10
Tomiyasu came on late to replace Partey at right-back. He has returned from his injury at the perfect time as Arsenal are very short of options at right-back with both Jurrien Timber and Ben White injured.
Jakub Kiwior: 5/10
The Pole came on just before the start of second-half stoppage time and didn’t have much to do.
