Arsenal-Southampton Preview

Mikel Arteta says there is a real hunger among his Arsenal players to keep their winning run going against Southampton and consolidate their position atop the Premier League.

Arsenal have won nine of their opening 10 league games, making this their best-ever start to a top-flight campaign, while also easing through to the Europa League knockouts.

Arteta's side face a quick turnaround following Thursday's 1-0 European win over PSV, but the Spaniard believes he has the squad depth to cope with Sunday's trip south.

"I'm really happy everybody is participating. Everybody feels part of it," he said. "That's really important. Everybody is competing and putting in the performances needed to win the games.

"The confidence is there and you can also see the hunger to go again and try to win."

Arsenal are four points clear of reigning champions Manchester City, while next opponents Southampton are in 14th place after beating Bournemouth 1-0 in midweek.

That victory snapped a five-match winless run, four of those games ending in defeat, and eased the pressure on manager Ralph Hasenhuttl for the time being.

"I think it was an important win for us. After the last two games, it was good to get a win," Hasenhuttl said. "We now have a super tough game up next.

"We've had time to recover, a day more than Arsenal, so hopefully we can use that to our advantage. We have to believe we can cause every team a problem on a good day."

Southampton - Che Adams

Scotland international Adams ended a 10-game goal drought for club and country with the winner against Bournemouth last time out. No side has kept fewer clean sheets than Southampton (one) this term, so it is imperative they get on the scoresheet on Sunday to have a chance of upsetting Arsenal.

Arsenal - Bukayo Saka

In what has been a superb start to the campaign for Arsenal, no player has had a bigger attacking impact than England international Saka. The 21-year-old has been involved in a team-high eight goals in 10 Premier League appearances, with those four goals and four assists coming in his past seven outings.

- Following a 1-0 win in April, Southampton are looking to win consecutive Premier League matches against Arsenal for only a second time, doing so previously in January and December 2015.

- Arsenal have won two of their three away Premier League matches against Southampton under Mikel Arteta but did lose 1-0 at St Mary's last season.

- This is the third time Southampton are hosting Arsenal in a Premier League match with the Gunners starting the day top of the table, with Saints unbeaten in the previous two (3-2 in November 2002, 2-2 in January 2014).

- After a 10-game unbeaten Premier League home run between October 2021 and February 2022, Southampton have now lost seven of their past 11 at St Mary's (W2 D2). However, their two wins in that run have come against Arsenal (April) and Chelsea (August).

- Arsenal have kept more clean sheets (four) and conceded fewer goals (three) away from home than any other side in the Premier League this season. They have won four of their five league games on the road so far this season, taking them 10 games to reach four away wins last term.

Updated October 21, 2022