Southampton picked up their fifth point in a week as they held the league leaders to a 1-1 draw on Sunday but not everyone made an impression.
Stuart Armstrong’s cool finish in the second half came after Granit Xhaka had opened the scoring early on.
After four straight defeats, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side are now unbeaten in three games having defeated Bournemouth in the week following their 1-1 draw with West Ham at St. Mary’s last Sunday.
They are up to 15th in the Premier League table but despite the result it wasn’t all promising.
Adam Armstrong who has scored just one league goal this season received just a 5/10 match rating for his performance from Hampshire Live who made the following comment:
‘Struggled in the first half to stretch the game though not for a lack of trying. Found it hard up against Ben White and William Saliba to get in behind the Arsenal defence. Had a big chance to test the Arsenal defence early in the second half when he intercepted a loose pass aimed at Gabriel but instead messed up his feet and the chance went begging.’
TIF Thoughts on Armstrong and Southampton…
Do you think Southampton need a new striker?
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The diminutive striker certainly found himself isolated at times at the top end of the pitch for the Saints.
He managed just 21 touches on the day (SofaScore), a game-low for players who started.
The 25-year-old saw his only shot blocked and lost possession six times on the day.
Armstrong has started ten times for the south-coast club this season but his average 6.36 match rating leaves him ranked 14th among his teammates.
With Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Liverpool to come before the World Cup he doesn’t exactly have the best of opportunities to change his fortune and the former Blackburn Rovers ace could endure a difficult couple of weeks before the season pauses just like he did against the Gunners.