Arsenal v Southampton Tips April 21

League leaders Arsenal welcome Southampton to the Emirates Stadium on Friday evening and, with the Gunners’ margin now down to four points, snapping their two-game winless run is imperative.

Home cooking

Arsenal held 2-0 leads in their matches against Liverpool and West Ham United, but they surrendered the advantage on each occasion and had to settle for a share of the points.

If there’s any consolation, it’s that those games were played away from home. Arsenal have picked up 38 points at the Emirates, which only Manchester City (40) have bettered, with only one defeat.

To add to the positive trend, Southampton have only scored nine away goals in the league this season. Only West Ham (eight) and Nottingham Forest (five) have fewer. In fact, Southampton have never won a Premier League match at the Emirates, so it’s highly likely that the leaders will turn things around under the bright Friday night lights.

Goals galore

Loads of goals has been a guarantee when watching Arsenal recently as they have scored at least twice in their last seven league matches.

Southampton have experienced contrasting levels of goal-scoring. Only two of their last seven league games have produced over 2.5 goals and, apart from netting three times against Spurs, Saints have registered just two goals in that same span of matches.

Then again, the two outliers featured ‘big six’ opponents in Tottenham and Manchester City. Southampton and Spurs drew 3-3 on March 18, while City put up four in a 4-1 victory over their southern rivals.

Suffice it to say, then, that the odds for entertainment are looking good, even when factoring in Southampton’s poor scoring record away from home.

Back on track?

It may not be straightforward as Southampton have kept two clean sheets recently, but everything points towards an Arsenal victory.

Not only does history favour the Gunners, a couple of their forwards are in terrific form. In the last three games, Gabriel Jesus (four) and Gabriel Martinelli (six) have been involved in a combined 10 goals. They are almost unstoppable when they are on the pitch together.

At the opposite end, William Saliba remains injured and that’s affected Arsenal’s defensive record. They’ve gone four games without a clean sheet, so Southampton should feel relatively confident about adding to their low goal tally away from home.