THERE'S just something about Saints v Arsenal 3-2 scorelines ... there's more magic in them than Harry Potter and Paul Daniels put together.

And what a team - world class players, top drawer goals, sexy football - and Arsenal weren't bad either!

An absolute treat. That's the only way to sum up Southampton's win on Saturday.

Two years ago when Matthew Le Tissier struck the winner against the Gunners in the 3-2 win to see off the final league game at The Dell, there was that whiff of magic in the air.

At the weekend it was a stench.

Arsenal were beaten in every individual battle and Saints deserved this win.

It's been a while coming and Gordon Strachan would have been bitterly disappointed had his men let the result slip after another excellent performance.

That's been the story of recent weeks - top displays against top teams but no points.

But not this week.

Saints had a game plan and they stuck to it.

They got about Arsenal in the first 20 minutes, mixed it up a bit and stopped them playing and getting a rhythm going.

They continued the hard work throughout the game but anybody who says that Saints won the match purely by out-running the Gunners is wrong.

Their work-rate gave them the opportunity to win the game - the victory came from their talent.

Rarely in recent years has there been a Saints team with so much natural ability.

How often can Saints fans honestly have looked at their sides in the last 10 years and seen more than a couple of players that they've been able to say to friends who support better teams 'he's class,' without feeling embarrassed?

The answer is not many.

But now it's hard to find more than a couple who aren't wonderfully gifted footballers and not just workhorses.

And that's what this win proved. Saints can match the best physically and, given half a chance, can give them a run for their money in the footballing stakes too.

Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira said his side did not under-estimate Saints but added: "I think before the game we knew it was going to be difficult - it is never easy here.

"We were disappointed with the first half where we didn't do well but in the second half it was a better Arsenal.

"We showed a more positive spirit and created some chances but we are disappointed to lose 3-2.

"But every game we play we know it will be difficult. Any team can beat any team so when we came here we expected a difficult game and we had a difficult game."

During a scrappy opening, Saints had the best of the chances with Matt Oakley who, along with the outstanding Rory Delap, won the midfield battle against Vieira and Edu, tested David Seaman from long range several times.

But it seemed it would be Arsenal's day when they took the lead after 36 minutes.

Sylvain Wiltord was on the left hand side of the Saints area and pulled back to Dennis Bergkamp 20 yards from goal and his sweetly-struck half-volley left Antti Niemi with no chance.

But Saints hit back at the perfect moment - in stoppage time just before half time.

Pascal Cygan was adjudged to have fouled Agustin Delgado and James Beattie thumped home the free-kick from 25 yards out.

Saints went in level but it was the first 13 minutes of the second period that would decide the fate of the game.

With 50 minutes on the clock, Niemi made a breathtaking triple save from Vieira's shot, header then shot again.

Just eight minutes later Beattie hammered home from the penalty spot for his eighth goal in seven games.

Cygan had messed up controlling the ball and allowed Delgado to steal it off his toe and, as the Ecuadorian international ran into the area, Sol Campbell made a genuine challenge but brought him down.

Penalty and a red card was the verdict of referee Paul Durkin.

And the roof was nearly lifted off St Mary's minutes later when Delgado bundled home Fabrice Fernandes' free-kick to make it 3-1. From then on the game got frantic as Arsenal desperately tried to rescue the points.

The introduction of Robert Pires almost swung the game their way.

Shortly after Delap had missed a chance to complete the win, Pires fired home after his header had been saved by Niemi.

It set up a tense finale, not helped by Chris Marsden's under-hit backpass which was almost pounced upon by Thierry Henry.

But Saints held on - what will be their next trick?