Arsenal v Southampton: Report and review

Day of returns

There were a whole host of returns at St. Mary’s on Saturday evening.

As well as both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott coming back to their former club, the latter was back after a calf strain whilst teammate Danny Welbeck picked up his first start since May.

Both will be delighted with their performances, a brace and an assist for Welbeck will have exceeded the expectations of anyone looking on and the hat-trick for Theo Walcott pushes his tally of goals for this term past last season’s total of 12.

From a Southampton perspective, defender Florin Gardos was back but questions will be raised over the depth of their back line.