Arsenal boosted their Champions League qualification hopes as they cruised past Southampton at Emirates Stadium despite captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang being dropped from the squad.
Stand-in skipper Alexandre Lacazette opened the scoring for the Gunners in the 21st minute, finishing off a superb 16-pass team move.
And Martin Odegaard doubled the lead six minutes later, heading home from close range.
Arsenal dominated throughout and added a third after 62 minutes with defender Gabriel nodding in a Gabriel Martinelli corner.
All the pre-match talk was around Aubameyang, with Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta saying the striker was missing out “due to a disciplinary breach”.
It is not the first time the Spaniard has dropped Aubameyang for disciplinary reasons. In March, the Gabon international missed a win over rivals Tottenham for a “breach of pre-match protocol”.
The result means Southampton are now winless in 23 Premier League matches at Arsenal, the longest by any club away from home in the competition’s history.
Credit: bbc.com
