Arsenal: Raya, Partey, White, Kiwior, Tierney, Rice, Zinchenko, Merino, Nwaneri, Sterling, Martinelli
Subs: Neto, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Jorginho, Henry-Francis, Saka, Trossard, Havertz, Kabia
Arsenal ended their 2024/25 Premier League season with three points (and in second place) after beating Southampton 2-1 at St Mary’s Stadium on Sunday, thanks to goals from Kieran Tierney and Martin Odegaard.
Mikel Arteta made five changes to the side that beat Newcastle last time out, affording some fringe players and those on the way out some game time with little jeopardy involved.
Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and Odegaard found themselves on the bench, with Riccardo Calafiori missing out on the matchday squad altogether for unknown reasons.
Arsenal started well and had two early sights of goal, with Gabriel Martinelli heading into the gloves of Aaron Ramsdale before Mikel Merino also headed over after rising highest in the Saints penalty box.
Literally nothing happened in the following 20 minutes (Southampton had an ambitious penalty shout waved away) before Arsenal’s best chance came from Merino again, who towered above two defenders but headed onto the top of the bar from Martinelli’s cross.
Southampton created very little up until that point but eventually threatened the visitors’ net when Ross Stewart got above Kieran Tierney but headed wide after he was picked out by Kamaldeen Sulemana.
In the blink of an eye, Martinelli raced through and should have put Arsenal ahead after springing the offside trap, allowing Tierney to play him in behind but after controlling his lofted pass brilliantly, Ramsdale was out quickly to smother him and the strike rolled wide.
However, Arteta’s men did break the deadlock soon after and it came from an unlikely source when Tierney of all people made a sharp near post run and swept home Ben White’s cross who steamed forward on the overlap. 1-0.
It was a lovely moment for the Bhoy who looked visibly delighted at scoring on his final Gunners appearance, with his teammates swarming him during the celebrations and the strike even drew laughs from his manager in the stands.
Just before the break, Sulemana had another opportunity to run at the Arsenal defence in transition but ended up volleying wide after his initial effort looped into the air off Jakub Kiwior. He was Southampton’s biggest threat in the first half by some distance.
Into the second half, there was some complacency creeping into the Gunners’ play and they found themselves pegged back when Stewart rose highest in the box to head home from a corner. 1-1.
This has been a clear area of vulnerability of late which has only been amplified following the season-ending injury to Gabriel.
Arsenal were close to re-taking the lead almost instantly when Nwaneri combined well with White (on the overlap) again whose low cross almost found Declan Rice in the middle, but Yukinari Sugawara was alert enough to clear from his own goal line.
There was another nearly moment for the visitors shortly after when Oleksandr Zinchenko whacked a well-struck effort towards goal after good play down the right hand side but it struck a Saints defender with Ramsdale likely beaten.
Both sides made a host of changes heading towards full time, with Saka, Odegaard, Trossard and Havertz all coming onto the pitch with Arteta searching for a winner to finish the season on a high note.
And it was Saka who had the ball in the net after Ramsdale initially did well to save from Rice, but replays showed he was well offside and the goal was ruled out.
The game looked to be fizzling out by that point with Arsenal struggling to break down a resolute Southampton backline, but a brilliant (and familiar) strike from Odegaard ended up securing all three points late on.
After collecting the ball from Leandro Trossard, the captain skipped inside Will Smallbone before unleashing a typical Odegaard strike into the bottom corner from 25 yards. It was a nice moment for the midfielder who has found this difficult this season for various reasons.
Arteta and the team will be glad to finish this season with a win, and actually did well to finish second considering all the injuries, red cards and other nonsense which made momentum so difficult to maintain.
But there are obvious regrets to shoulder – with the January window especially proving to be a real sliding doors moment.
Eyes now turn to Andrea Berta and the rest of the recruitment team to get their jobs done as we look to rest and go again next season.