Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express.
Arsenal player ratings: Lacazette and Xhaka get eights as Ramsey struggles against Saints
ARSENAL registered a comfortable victory over Southampton on Sunday afternoon to move back into the final Champions League spot.
The Gunners ran out 2-0 winners against the relegation battlers thanks to first-half goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Victory over Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side has moved the north Londoners into fourth place in the table, two points ahead of their fellow Champions League chasers Manchester United.
Arsenal where streets ahead of their south coast opponents, who are now one point away from safety.
Arsenal player ratings vs Southampton
Bernd Leno: 8
Stephan Lichtsteiner: 6
Shkodran Mustafi: 7
Sokratis Papastathopoulos: 8
We wanted three points with our supporters
Sead Kolasinac: 8
Lucas Torreira: 7
Granit Xhaka: 8
Alex Iwobi: 8
Aaron Ramsey: 5
Henrikh Mkhitaryan: 9
Alexandre Lacazette: 8
Gunners boss Unai Emery was delighted with the routine victory, which saw his troops avenge the 3-2 defeat they suffered to Saints last December.
The Spaniard said: “We played against them in a difficult moment, with Xhaka at centre back, also the injury to Bellerin.
“We spoke yesterday and said we had respect for Southampton but thinking about what we wanted today.
“We wanted three points with our supporters. Maybe that match there could be motivation.”
Arsenal return to action on Wednesday night, welcoming Bournemouth to the Emirates.