Southampton must buck trend and build on Arsenal draw vs Bournemouth

And with games left to play against Newcastle, Brighton, and Liverpool, this week’s clash with the Cherries feels potentially decisive.

In theory, Saints should be arriving to the monster game with confidence following their impressive performance away at Arsenal coupled with Bournemouth’s heavy defeat to West Ham.

READ MORE: Saints predicted team to face Bournemouth after Selles witnesses their weaknesses

But positive momentum hasn’t always led to positive results for this Saints team this season and in fact, it’s usually led to the opposite.

After 32 games of the 2022/23 Premier League season, Saints are yet to win back-to-back matches while they’ve only avoided defeat following two of their five wins this season.

Granted, it wasn’t victory in the end on Friday as Arsenal’s late burst denied Saints three points, but it was no doubt a performance and result to build on.

Can Saints build on Friday's impressive performance at Arsenal? (Image: PA)

The key there though, is that they actually have to build on it, something that is no guarantee based on their track record this season…

Saints 2-1 Chelsea

While Saints’ first win of the season away to Leicester City was followed up by a narrow defeat to Manchester United at St Mary’s, this second victory of the campaign highlights a trend that would continue.

That United defeat could be easily forgiven considering the quality of the opposition and the level of performance Saints displayed in defeat. Regardless, there was no time to fret with Chelsea’s visit to St Mary’s coming just 72 hours later.

And this time they managed to back up an impressive showing with all three points as Romeo Lavia and Adam Armstrong struck in the first half after Raheem Sterling had given Chelsea the lead. The visitors chased the equaliser after the break but Saints held on relatively comfortably - all things considered - to take a seemingly huge step in their fledgling season.

Of course, the hamstring injury Lavia suffered would become the unfortunate lasting memory of the victory in the coming weeks.

Followed by: Wolves 1-0 Chelsea

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side visited Molineux full of confidence after just one defeat in the previous four games including that win against Chelsea just days earlier.

But a destructively flat performance followed and Wolves grabbed the advantage just before half time thanks to Daniel Podence’s breakaway goal.

Saints had chances to reverse the tide after the interval - Che Adams notably handling the ball over the line from one yard out - but never did quite enough to deserve more than the defeat they eventually received.

Throughout the 90 minutes in the Midlands, Saints managed just one shot on target. It proved a momentum shifter as they went on to lose three more on the spin.

Bournemouth 0-1 Saints

That aforementioned losing run was curtailed with a critical draw against West Ham before Saints visited Bournemouth on a chilly weeknight in October. 

It was far from convincing but Adams’ 9th minute header proved the difference as Saints elevated themselves out of the relegation zone and kept their first clean sheet of the season in the process.

That latter point required a late Mohammed Salisu clearance off the line to complete but it felt like a night to build on in a stuttering campaign.

Followed by: 1-1 Arsenal

Followed by: Crystal Palace 1-0 

In a sense, Saints did build on the Bournemouth win four days later against Arsenal. Mikel Arteta’s side had already established themselves as potential title challengers and they came racing out of the blocks at St Mary’s looking like a team intending to go all the way.

A flurry of early chances saw Granit Xhaka make it 1-0 after 11 minutes but Saints just about avoided disaster, keeping the game close before growing into the game and making it to half time only one down.

They continued rising after the break and Stuart Armstrong earned Hasenhuttl and his side a point with a well-taken 65th minute finish.

Now armed with genuine momentum following three games unbeaten, Saints travelled to South London to face Crystal Palace. No game is easy in this division but this counted as part of the ‘winnable’ category. Yet once again, Saints didn’t turn up.

Sloppy Saints defending was a constant of the first half and they paid the price in the 38th minute when Wilfried Zaha robbed Lyanco before Tyrick Mitchell set up Odsonne Edouard for a simple finish.

Saints pressed in the second half and as became all too predictable, Adams missed two huge chances to get his side back on level terms.

Ultimately though, it was too little too late as Saints paid the price for another slow start in another game where they could have breathed real excitement into the season.

Hasenhuttl ended up surviving just one more game, sacked after Saints were beaten 4-1 by Newcastle before Nathan Jones arrived at the helm to oversee an extended slide of six consecutive league defeats that started with the Selhurst Park loss.

Saints 2-1 Everton

That slide of six straight losses left Jones in trouble almost as soon as he arrived. Something needed to change and headed to Goodison Park, where Saints had lost won in 1997, confidence amongst supporters was far from elevated.

Amadou Onana’s opening goal six minutes before half time only added to those concerns but following the break James Ward-Prowse notched his 50th and 51st goals of his Saints career to claw back a huge victory - the first league win of the Jones era.

Followed by 1-0 Aston Villa

While the Merseyside success was Saints’ first league win under Jones, it was actually their third victory on the trot after FA Cup and League Cup joy against Crystal Palace and Manchester City.

Approaching a home clash with Aston Villa, Saints were - and deserved to be - in good spirits. Despite the awfully rocky start to Jones’s reign, it genuinely appeared as if a corner had been turned. 

Once again though, a familiar theme continued in another game where Saints had the chance to build towards some sort of positive run.

Aston Villa were mediocre, but Saints were significantly worse, offering vicrtually no threat of their own as they kept just 36% of the ball before Olli Watkins headed in the only goal of the game with 13 minutes left to play.

Another opportunity cast aside with barely a whimper.

Chelsea 0-1 Saints

That Villa failure proved the start of the end for Jones who lost two more league games in a row before receiving his marching orders. Despite reports linking Saints with a move for Jesse Marsch, the deal for the American fell through, leaving Ruben Selles in charge for the trip to Stamford Bridge.

A spirited display - ignited with a dash of Ward-Prowse set-piece brilliance - saw Saints keep Chelsea at bay en-route to a huge 1-0 victory.

The start of something new? It was enough to earn Selles the full time managerial role until the end of the season but familiar troubles would soon crop up.

Followed by: 1-0 Leeds

The Chelsea result was big but it paled in comparison to the true relegation six-pointer at Elland Road the following weekend. Leeds, under a new manager of their own in Javi Gracia, approached the game winless in their last ten.

But in Saints they found a suitably flat opponent to curtail that run. Selles’s side set up to defend and survive in the game but they paid the price for their lack of bravery and urgency when Junior Firpo decided the contest in the 77th minute.

Saints never really looked like scoring before the goal and they offered roughly the same nothing after it to halt any Selles-led momentum.

1-0 Leicester

Thankfully for Selles and Saints, they were immediately presented with another major opportunity, another major six-pointer, this time against Leicester.

Yes, there was an element of luck involved but Saints took a vital three points as Charly Alcaraz notched the only goal of the game ten minutes before half time. Leicester pushed for an equaliser late on and hit the crossbar but Saints held out for a critical victory.

Followed by: 0-0 United

Followed by: 2-0 Brentford

Next up for Saints was a trip to Old Trafford and while they were aided by Casemiro’s first half red card, Selles and his team were more than deserving of their point and could have taken all three on another day.

The result also marked Saints’ third clean sheet in four games. Something - it seemed - was building under Selles.

Unfortunately, whatever was building came crumbling down 72 hours later when Saints were swept aside by Brentford.

Once again, the Bees disappointment combined many of Saints’ destructive tendencies in one. Once again, they conceded easily from a set-piece and once again they failed to take any chances they created. 

It was a frustratingly familiar defeat but a damaging defeat nonetheless.

3-3 vs Spurs

Saints haven’t been perfect under Selles and for large swathes of time under the Spaniard, they haven’t even been good. But they have shown spirit, at least in spurts. An impressive comeback against Spurs highlighted that.

With 15 minutes left to play, Saints found themselves 3-1 down but late goals from Theo Walcott and Ward-Prowse saw them recover to take a vital and uplifting point.

Followed by: 1-0 West Ham

The surprise point against Spurs should have placed Saints in perfect stead for their huge trip to West Ham. ‘Should’ being the key word there. But for some reason, it didn’t.

Yet again, Saints approached a massive game without the intensity such an occasion requires. Once again, they conceded from a set-piece, Nayef Aguerd scoring in the 25th minute.

It proved the decisive moment as Saints never got going. Paul Onuachu did hit the crossbar with a late header but Saints’ performance didn’t warrant any better than they got: another dismal defeat.

Arsenal 3-3 Saints

Two more defeats - without scoring a goal - followed the West Ham loss, putting Saints on the brink when they headed to the home of the league leaders last Friday.

But in typically surprising Saints fashion they stormed into an early 2-0 lead before making it 3-1 in the second half. They carried that lead into the final three minutes of normal time but couldn’t quite get over the line as Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka struck late to turn three points into one.

Still, it’s a vital point and the kind of performance that can kick-start a run and kick-start a wave of belief. Hosting Bournemouth on Thursday, that’s what Saints need it to be. With fixtures left against Newcastle, Brighton, and Liverpool, time is seriously running out. 

Failure to beat Bournemouth could prove disastrous - Saints must go against the grain of their season and show up from the first minute in a gigantic momentum altering match.