Izuchukwu OkosiArsenal were held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton in the Premier League for the first time this season on Sunday and look fatigued from their Europa League exploits.
Heading into the game, the Gunners were four points adrift of champions Manchester City but that lead has been cut to two points albeit Arsenal are still atop the league table.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe Gunners came into this fixture with nine wins from their previous 10 Premier League games and looked set to take their victories into double figures during a rampant opening first 45 minutes on the south coast.
Former captain Granit Xhaka fired Arsenal into the lead after just 11 minutes with his weaker right foot at St Mary’s following an excellent cross from Ben White and the Gunners created chances to extend their advantage in the remainder of the first half.
Stuart Armstrong levelled for the Saints with 65 minutes left on the clock.
There were some calls against Arsenal that were controversially overlooked by the referee which Mikel Arteta stopped short of commenting about insisting post match that he will do so at a later time.
Arsenal had been in action on Thursday night in the Europa League, beating PSV Eindhoven 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium.
The reverse leg of the tie will hold this Thursday away at 8pm Nigerian time.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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