Best Southampton v Arsenal predictions and free football tips as Gunners fancied

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Southampton v Arsenal in the Premier League on Tuesday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 8.15pm Tuesday

Best bet

Arsenal to score the last goal
1pt 4-5 Betfred

Team news

Southampton
Kyle Walker-Peters (quad) joins Moussa Djenepo, Jannik Vestergaard, Nathan Redmond and Oriel Romeu on the injured list and Ryan Bertrand is suspended.

Arsenal
Dani Ceballos (calf) is a doubt and Pablo Mari remains sidelined.

Match preview

Arsenal were disappointed by Saturday's 1-0 loss at Southampton in the FA Cup fourth round but they improved after the break and could score the last goal when returning to the south coast for a Premier League encounter against Ralph Hasenhuttl's side.

The Gunners are 11th in the table, well below pre-season expectations, but have half of their league matches left to play and could finish the night just four points adrift of the top four.

Champions League qualification remains a long shot for Mikel Arteta's side, who would need to average more than two points per game for the rest of the season to have a realistic chance.

However, they have improved since Christmas, when they were just four points above the drop zone, and Arteta wants that progress to continue.

He took a calculated gamble with his weekend team selection, leaving key men Kieran Tierney, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith Rowe, Bakary Saka and Alexandre Lacazette out of the starting line-up, and it contributed to the end of their FA Cup defence.

Arsenal finished the game in the ascendancy, assisted by the second half introductions of Partey, Saka and Lacazette, and will be looking to carry on where they left off.

Southampton are going to be up against a stronger Arsenal team this time and will probably have to take on the challenge with most of the same players who started for them on Saturday.

Barring a change of goalkeeper - first-choice Alex McCarthy should replace Fraser Forster - Hasenhuttl has little room for manoeuvre because he deployed his best available players in the cup game.

And his absentee list has increased with right back Kyle Walker-Peters suffering a muscle strain and left back Ryan Bertrand collecting a fifth booking of the season, triggering a one-game ban.

The weekend contest was a tactical triumph for the Austrian, whose players swarmed all over Arsenal with the energetic, high-pressing approach which has established them as such a dangerous and highly respected opponents.

But a few Saints players were showing signs of tiredness towards the end of the game and those levels of fatigue are likely to more evident in the league fixture – affording Arsenal a better chance of getting a good result.

Southampton's tactics have been so successful that they are two points above Arsenal with a game in hand, but they cannot always sustain their effort until the final whistle and have lost ten points from winning positions, one of the worst six records in the division.

Saints' fast starts have often caused problems for Arsenal, who had to come from behind to secure a 1-1 draw in December's 1-1 draw at the Emirates.

However, the Gunners have scored the last goal in each of the last four league games between the teams and that trend may be set to continue.

Key stat

Arsenal have scored the last goal in each of their last four league matches against Southampton

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