Football: Long double brings Arsenal down to earth

Arsenal's Premier League title ambitions were dealt a painful blow as they were not so much beaten as humiliated 4-0 by a Shane Long-inspired Southampton on Saturday.

SOUTHAMPTON: Arsenal's Premier League title ambitions were dealt a painful blow as they were not so much beaten as humiliated 4-0 by a Shane Long-inspired Southampton on Saturday.

Favourites to win the title after their 2-1 victory over Manchester City, they knew that they could go to the top of the table by beating an out-of-form Southampton after Leicester City's defeat at Liverpool earlier in the day.

But somehow they made Southampton - short of confidence and goals and reeling from a 2-0 home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur a week ago - look like the team aiming for the top.

Dutch-born Curacao defender Cuco Martina, only in the team thanks to an injury to first-choice right-back Cedric Soares, put Southampton ahead with a sensational long-range strike in the 19th minute.

Long, himself only playing because of injury to top scorer Graziano Pelle, added a second, Jose Fonte headed in the third, and Long made it 4-0 in injury time.

St Mary's is not a lucky ground for Arsenal, where they lost on New Year's Day last season and have not won since December 2003.

But this was a potentially damaging result and display and Arsene Wenger's men must now aim for six points and nothing less from home matches against Bournemouth and Newcastle United.

Yet Arsenal started well. Unchanged from the starting XI that had beaten City last Monday, the visitors could have gone ahead in the second minute, but Olivier Giroud headed the ball well over from Mesut Ozil's corner.

Southampton looked energetic and in the mood to put recent disappointments behind them, but their early attacks foundered on the Arsenal defence.

When the visitors broke away, Aaron Ramsey's clever disguised pass reached Nacho Monreal, whose deflected cross almost drifted over the head of Maarten Stekelenburg.

Monreal had another chance when Martina headed unconvincingly out of defence and the left-back under-hit his shot straight at Stekelenburg.

ARSENAL SNOOZE

But that error by the man from Rotterdam was soon forgotten.

When Per Mertesacker headed away a routine cross from the left, any danger to the Arsenal goal seemed to have been averted until Martina hit the ball first time with the outside of his right foot, sending it curling past Petr Cech and into the bottom-left corner from fully 30 yards.

No-one looked more surprised than Martina, who was making his first league start after being restricted to a couple of Europa League appearances since his £1 million ($1.48 million, 1.35 million euros) close-season move from FC Twente.

Southampton could have added a second three minutes before half-time when Long outpaced Mertesacker, but with only Cech to beat, lifted his shot high over the bar.

Seconds earlier Theo Walcott had nodded wide at the near post from another Ozil corner, but Arsenal's previous dominance was a thing of the past, and things got even worse in the opening period of the second half.

When James Ward-Prowse sent a free-kick onto the head of Virgil Van Dijk, only the flag of the assistant referee ruled out a goal. It was a close decision.

But Southampton were not to be denied and in the 55th minute they deservedly doubled their lead.

Long began the move, passing to Mane on the right and running into the box for the return pass. Laurent Koscielny, his marker, tripped after fleeting contact with Long, who was left unmarked to shoot past Cech.

It was 3-0 in the 69th minute as Southampton scored a goal that summed up everything wrong with Arsenal on the night.

As Ryan Bertrand swung in a corner from the right, no Arsenal defender attacked the ball convincingly, in contrast to Saints captain Fonte, who threw himself between Koscielny and Mathieu Flamini and headed past Cech.

Now it was just a question of how many Southampton would score and having gone close when he hit the post, Long added a fourth when he drilled home a deserved second.

Stoke expose Van Gaal, Long dents Arsenal bid

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal's future was plunged into serious doubt on Saturday as his side lost at Stoke City, while title-chasing Arsenal crashed to a demoralising 4-0 defeat at Southampton.

United have now gone seven games without victory in all competitions -- their worst run since 1989-90 -- and speculation is rife that Van Gaal will pay for their slump with his job.

He had described the match as "must-win", but his side were deservedly beaten 2-0 at a windswept Britannia Stadium after Bojan Krkic punished a Memphis Depay error to open the scoring in the 19th minute before Marko Arnautovic slammed home a brilliant second goal seven minutes later.

Asked if he felt he still had the support of the United board, Van Gaal said: "You will have to wait and see, but I think so. I feel the support of everybody in the club."

He added: "It's more difficult because I'm also part of the four matches (in succession) that we have lost."

Van Gaal's side slipped to sixth in the table, three points below the Champions League places, with Stoke, managed by former United striker Mark Hughes, now three points behind them in 11th place.

After a highly eventful Boxing Day programme, Leicester City remained top despite a 1-0 loss at Liverpool after Arsenal failed to exploit their slip-up by capitulating at Southampton.

Cuco Martina broke the deadlock for Southampton in the 19th minute with a jaw-dropping 30-yard shot that swerved inside the left-hand post.

Shane Long struck twice in the second half, either side of a 69th-minute Jose Fonte header, as Ronald Koeman's side ended a five-game winless streak in fine style.

"We lost too many challenges today. They were sharper than us," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told BT Sport.

"The title is down to consistency to fight in every single game and produce a performance. Today was a very physical game and we didn't play well enough."

The result, Arsenal's fourth defeat of the campaign, brought Wenger's side spiralling to earth after their 2-1 win over Manchester City last Monday and kept Leicester two points clear at the summit.

Leicester fell to their first away defeat of the campaign, and second in total, after substitute Christian Benteke slid home Roberto Firmino's 63rd-minute cut-back to earn Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp a first win in four league games.

"We started to play too late," said Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri, whose side host third-place Manchester City on Tuesday.

"Liverpool pushed from the beginning and for this reason they deserved to win."

Manchester City reignited their title challenge by bouncing back from defeat at Arsenal with a breezy 4-1 win over second-bottom Sunderland that left them three points below Leicester.

Raheem Sterling, Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony scored inside the first 22 minutes to put City in control, with Kevin De Bruyne adding a fourth before Fabio Borini replied for Sam Allardyce's side.

But it was not all positive news for City manager Manuel Pellegrini, with Bony skying a late penalty and, more worryingly, skipper Vincent Kompany limping off just eight minutes after coming on following eight games out with a calf injury.

"The only pity was Vincent Kompany's injury," Pellegrini said. "It is a calf. It is difficult to understand."

Tottenham Hotspur tightened their grip on fourth place by overcoming Norwich City 3-0 at White Hart Lane, where Harry Kane scored twice -- the first a penalty -- and Tom Carroll also found the target.

Diego Costa netted twice as Guus Hiddink began his second spell as Chelsea interim manager with a 2-2 draw at home to Watford, Oscar missing a late penalty that would have given the champions all three points.

Troy Deeney, with a penalty, and Odion Ighalo put Watford 2-1 ahead after Costa had given Chelsea a 32nd-minute lead, but the Spain striker equalised in the 65th minute from Willian's pass.

Oscar had a chance to give Chelsea victory when substitute Eden Hazard was fouled by Valon Behrami, but the Brazilian slipped as he took his penalty and sent the ball looping into the crowd. Chelsea remain 15th.

"At the end it is a fair result," said Hiddink, who will be without Costa through suspension for Monday's trip to United.

"But we had some chances and it was a pity Oscar slipped for the penalty."

Elsewhere, Crystal Palace rose one place to fifth after drawing 0-0 at Bournemouth.

Managerless Swansea City escaped the relegation zone as Ki Sung-Yueng's ninth-minute tap-in saw off West Bromwich Albion, while bottom club Aston Villa drew 1-1 at home to West Ham United.

Swansea's win dropped Newcastle United into the bottom three and they remained there as Tom Cleverley's 93rd-minute header earned Everton a last-gasp 1-0 win at St James' Park.