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Southampton showed a more resilient side than we have seen so far this season as they battled well before ultimately succumbing to a 3-1 defeat against Arsenal on Saturday.
Russell Martin questioned the fight of his Southampton players after the 3-1 loss against Bournemouth and he saw a reaction against Arsenal.
Martin switched to a back five to make Southampton more solid, with Kyle Walker-Peters surprisingly chosen to operate as one of the centre-backs.
It worked as the Saints absorbed a lot of first-half pressure before Cameron Archer fired Southampton in front against the run of play on 55 minutes.
Unfortunately for Southampton, the lead lasted just three minutes before Kai Havertz levelled and ten minutes later Arsenal were ahead through Gabriel Martinelli.
Mark Halsey says Arsenal second goal vs Southampton should not have stood
Southampton were not happy with the awarding of Martinelli’s goal as they believe Mikel Merino interfered with play from an offside position before the onside Martinelli struck at the back post.
Merino did not touch the ball but challenged for a header in the middle of the box and former Premier League referee Mark Halsey thinks it is ‘clear’ the goal should have been chalked off.
Halsey was speaking on The Sun’s The Whistle Blower, where he explained: “I have to say I thought it was offside because, like you say, you’re offside if you challenge an opponent for the ball, or clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when the action impacts on an opponent, making an obvious action which clearly impacts the ability of the opponent to play the ball.
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“So, if you’re looking at law 11, offside, technically he was offside because he did challenge the ball. He did go and jump and then duck his head and then it clearly impacted on Aaron Ramsdale because he thinks he’s going to make that challenge, obviously win the ball, but he ducks at the last moment and then leaves it for Martinelli.
“So, for me, I think that should have been disallowed that goal because it was clearly offside. He clearly made an attempt to play the ball.”
Result against Arsenal would have lifted Southampton
Some may argue that it does not really matter as Bukayo Saka wrapped up the win for Arsenal late on anyway, but Martinelli’s goal completely changed the state of the game.
Martin would undoubtedly have taken a point away at title-contenders Arsenal and the longer it went on at 1-1 the more nervy The Emirates crowd would have got.
As it was, there were just 13 minutes between Archer putting Southampton ahead and Arsenal regaining control via Martinelli’s contentious goal.
The Saints do need to improve when it comes to defending leads but they can perhaps consider themselves a little hard done by judging by Halsey’s comments.