Arsenal could lead at the break for once on Southampton trip

Can Arsenal keep up this extraordinary tale of two halves that is the backdrop of their season?

They head for struggling Southampton on Sunday and fans are doubtless resigned to the fact that their team won’t be ahead at half time but probably will at full time.

Fifth in the table on merit, the Gunners are 19th in a first-half table having failed to lead at the interval in any of their 16 Premier League showdowns. Conversely, they haven’t lost any of their last 14 second halves.

They should by rights fancy their chances of leading at half-time and full-time against Saints under their new boss Ralph Hasenhuttl, who in last week’s 1-0 loss at Cardiff quickly realised the size of the task facing him.

Southampton haven’t won any of their last 12 league games, a sequence going back over three months, and St Mary’s has witnessed only one home league triumph in more than 12 months.

Goals flowing in Bundesliga

The Bundesliga is setting the pace once again in terms of goals-per-gams with Saturday’s showdown between Hoffenheim and Gladbach one of those fixtures which just seems to bleed goals.

There aren’t many fixtures where over 3.5 goals is an odds-on shot - except in the Bundesliga where that’s more common than elsewhere - but this is certainly one of them.

It’s easy enough to see why. Eight of Hoffenheim’s 14 league matches have yielded four goals or more. Seven of Gladbach’s 14 have done likewise.

Since a 0-0 draw between these clubs in January 2013 there have been ten top-flight meetings producing the grand total of 46 goals. Both teams have found the net in all ten of them with eight producing four goals or more.

Picking a winner might not be easy with both sides going well. Predicting goals, however, is a no-brainer.

A derby clash to savour

Liverpool v Manchester United is the classic example of the not-in-the-same-town-but-very-much-a-derby derby with years of spite and rancour to guarantee it remains a fiery, must-watch dust-up.

But drop down a division this weekend and there’s another of those showdowns with Derby County taking on Nottingham Forest.

Less than 18 miles apart down the Brian Clough Way (well what else would they have called it?), the A52 derby is a proper old spat between two clubs who have been locking horns in the Championship every season since 2008-09.

With both going well there’s plenty on the line as the Rams hope to make it four straight home wins to nil against their nearest and not-so-dearest, while draw experts Forest would probably take an 11th stalemate of the season.

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