Before last night's game, Arsenal had never lost 5 consecutive home games in their entire 134-year history. However, this current run of form is the worst I can personally remember (not quite going back that long!) - but perhaps dating back to the terrible mid-sixties under Billy Wright? - and here were Southampton, rolling up at The Emirates in third place in the table and full of confidence.
I had been allocated tickets for this match, but that particular avenue of pleasure had been closed off (spurious Fawlty Towers reference...) by HM Government. So it was back to the sofa. And once more I wasn't able to sit comfortably for much of it.
I was glad to see personnel changes; two enforced and two tactical. Eddie was worth a go (Aubameyang back on the left), and I was extremely happy to see AMN back in the starting line-up. The other changes - Ceballos and Pepe for Xhaka and Willian - were very much as expected.
However, things didn't start well. Southampton came out quickly, looking composed and pinging the ball around with confidence, while Arsenal struggled to get on the ball and to do anything constructive with it. Once more, Bukayo Saka was the brightest spark in that respect - and by a considerable distance. Southampton obviously saw Saka as the main danger, as they flattened him twice in the first 5 minutes!
All in all, it was difficult to ascertain a plan from Arsenal, whereas Southampton's was clear. Whilst Ings was quiet, Adams and Walcott were both lively, and they were well prompted by Ward-Prowse and especially Romeu, who was unrecognisable from the limited, inhibited player of previous seasons. But once more Arsenal were apparently left to freestyle their way; which is surprising considering how much Arteta likes to bark orders from the touchline. I'm going, for the moment, to put this down to lack of confidence - as Arsene Wenger used to say, it takes a long time to build up confidence, and a moment to shatter it.
And it didn't help that, up against Southampton's giant centre-half pairing, the ball wasn't sticking to Eddie long enough to enable him to bring others into the game. Pressing was somewhat selective, but the Arsenal midfield did look more mobile without Xhaka (some may argue that it would do that if you selected a couple of fence panels in his place...).
But there was very little end product on show, frankly, although thanks to Saka some inroads were being made on the left, and twice Pepe got into shooting positions coming in from the other side, but failed to really trouble the goalkeeper, and Ceballos had a decent hit from range that flew just over the bar.
And so it was that Southampton took the lead via (inevitably) Theo Walcott, who finished with unaccustomed aplomb from a through ball from Adams, to whom the ball had broken following a collision between Gabriel and Elneny in the centre circle. Tierney, covering for Gabriel, was caught wrong-footed by the excellence of the through ball and whereas playing in an Arsenal shirt Theo would have either shot straight at the keeper or wide of the far post, this time - of course - he chipped the ball over the advancing Leno with alacrity.
And celebrated. And why shouldn't he? I had no problem with him doing that. He'd been deemed surplus to requirements at Arsenal, and that's that.
And so Arsenal were faced with another uphill battle, but I did hold out some hope because I believed that those on the pitch were better equipped for the task than in previous games. And whilst it was clear that Southampton took their foot off the gas for a while, Arsenal started to force their way back into the game, and came out quickly at the beginning of the second half - Arteta's words once more clearly ringing in their ears.
And the equaliser was quite lovely. Saka's solo slalom past three defenders and quick pass to Eddie, the latter's immediate release to a running Aubameyang, and the skipper finished in typical style from a dozen yards. Drought over; we hope, anyway.
And now to return, regrettably, to lack of discipline, as Gabriel firstly flattened Adams on the half-way line and then kicked the ball away, and under 5 minutes later pulled Theo back in the centre circle. Two yellows, off, and down to 10 once more. Meaning that yet again a draw was the best we could reasonably hope for. Footnote - Gabriel apologised on Social Media immediately after the game, but we're still waiting to hear from Granit Xhaka.
Arteta brought on David Luiz for Eddie at this point, as he had to do, and the Brazilian marshalled the defence really well as Arsenal settled back into 'low block' mode. Apart from one or two scares - Redmond hit the bar and Djenepo looked extremely tricky in tight situations - the half hour was dealt with pretty comfortably. And going into injury time Holding was unfortunate with a towering header that hit the Southampton bar following a corner.
And so, in the end, a draw was achieved. Better than what has come before, yet ultimately disappointing, because with 11 players on the pitch Arsenal might - just might - have come away with all three points. Whether it's ill-discipline or plain idiocy, this spate of sending offs has to stop. Along with Pepe's against Leeds that's three in 5 matches, and now 7 in the year since Arteta took over. What this means about the mental state of the players and the group one can only guess, but I'd imagine that some of it comes from failing to meet their own expectations. But there's no excuse for it.
Moving forward, we've got three tough games coming up. Everton at the weekend, Citeh in the EFL Cup on Tuesday and then Chelsea on Boxing Day. The team needs to build on the improvement - moderate as it was - that we saw against Southampton, because the situation remains precarious. Luiz will come back into the side, I'm sure, and I suspect that for the moment Arteta will revert to three centre-backs, with AMN and Saka at wing-back. What we have, I would hope, we hold.
Meanwhile, what the next transfer window holds remains to be seen. But one thing it doesn't hold is the signing of reported target Dominik Szobozlai, who has signed for RB Leipzig. But the creative void needs to be filled; otherwise it's going to be a long, hard battle for Arsenal this season.
Just a quick word on developments at the top of the table, and I am prepared to admit that I cheered Firmino's late winner against The Axis Of Evil as loudly as I had Aubameyang's equaliser. Has it really come to this?
Until Sunday. Stay safe, please.
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