In 1999, Arsene Wenger found himself having to replace want-away striker Nicolas Anelka with a somewhat wet-behind-the-ears forward. Having spent a disastrous eight months floundering on the wing for Juventus, Thierry Henry’s £10m price tag seemed like a gamble. A gamble that looked like it was set to fail as, like Bergkamp, the Frenchman didn’t exactly hit the ground running and failed to score in his first seven matches for Arsenal, all the while looking nowhere near an adequate enough replacement for Anelka.
But then, Arsenal had a fixture at The Dell – otherwise known as the land of opportunity for Gunners forwards. With the game deadlocked at 0-0 with just 10 minutes to go, Tony Adams brought the ball forward from defence and laid on a pass to the struggling

This weekend, Arsenal host a high flying Southampton side who, on recent form, could provide as difficult a test as any of the teams faced during the recent ‘tough run’ of games. With the international break over and done with, and some players suitably rested, the team will need to be at their best against a side that has performed above all expectations so far this season. Pochettino’s charges are likely to show little fear against the table-topping gunners. However, if recent history is anything to go by, Arsenal will be hoping to continue a trend of success in a fixture that has brought out the very best out of certain individuals in the past.
Wright on time

Of all the great moments and memories at Arsenal over the past two decades, one of the most understated is that glorious September afternoon in 1997 when Ian Wright scored a hat trick against Bolton to equal, and then break, Cliff Bastin’s 58 year old record as Arsenal’s top goal scorer.  

The symmetry could not be more fitting as just seven years earlier, the man we still affectionately refer to as ‘Wrighty’ also netted a treble on his league debut. Having scored in his first Arsenal game in the League Cup against Leicester just a few days earlier, Arsenal’s then record signing went some way to justifying the £2.5m outlay by George Graham and the club as he put the Saints to the sword at the Dell. This inspired display was merely a sign of things to come both for Arsenal and their opponents that day. Wright first went on to repeat the trick 8 months later in the return fixture at Highbury. His three goals that day saw Arsenal run out 5-1 winners as well as secure him the golden boot at the end of his first season in red and white.  Two years later, Wright completed a hat trick of hat tricks in another 4-0 away win.

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Wrighty “only” scored two more times against the Saints, including the final goal to seal an expected and otherwise routine 4-2 win in September 1995. This match ultimately proving to be one of rather great significance in the recent history of the club…

Tip of the Ice-Berg

The mid 90s saw Arsenal going through something of a strange transition. Following George Graham’s controversial departure in the middle of the 1994/95 season, the team were seriously being spoken of as relegation candidates. Caretaker manager Stewart Houston steadied the ship somewhat but despite reaching the Cup Winners Cup final, the season ended in disappointment following a defeat in Paris and a 12th place league finish – a mere six points off the final relegation place.

The club brought in Bruce Rioch as manager over the summer and his first order of business was to strengthen the side with a striker to take the goal-scoring burden off of Wright. Rather than raid what would have been the familiar territory of the first division, the former Bolton manager went big and spent nearly £8m on a certain Dennis Bergkamp – the Dutch striker who starred for his country in the previous year’s World Cup but flattered to deceive at club level for Inter Milan.

An inauspicious start to his Arsenal career saw Bergkamp fail to find the back of the net in his opening seven games (including a league cup tie against lowly Hartlepool), prompting many to decry him as a waste of money.

For a player of Bergkamp’s calibre, frustration would have been building and it was only be a matter of time before he made someone suffer. Sadly, it would be the Saints who would feel his wrath. 17 minutes into another beautifully sunny match, Bergkamp managed to further brighten up the day as he connected with fellow Dutchman Glenn Helder’s cross to volley Arsenal into the lead. Not content with that, with the scores level at 2-2 in the second half, Bergkamp received the ball just inside the opposition half before turning and heading towards the goal. Poor Neil Maddison in the Saints midfield seemed mesmerised by the control as he backed off and allowed Arsenal’s newest hero to unleash a rocket of a shot from 25 yards which ricocheted off the post as it flew into the top corner. Cue delirium.

Bergkamp scored five more times against the Saints including another brace, this time at the Dell, at the start of 1997/98 title winning campaign. By now, Bergkamp was among the most feared strikers in the league and his goals on the day only served to emphasise this. A typically magical touch to bring down a lofted clearance found him in a similar position on the pitch as two years earlier before scoring his second that day. Executing a similar turn and run towards goal, this time it wasn’t just Maddison who could only watch in awe as at least 5 red and white shirts struggled to get anywhere near him. Finding himself on the edge of the penalty area, Bergkamp dragged the ball back onto his right foot and placed it past the helpless Paul jones in the Southampton goal. His second to seal the victory owed as much to his understated strength as it did to his finishing. Despite having his shirt pulled by Francis Benali on route to goal, Bergkamp muscled the defender off the ball before unleashing a brilliant strike into the top corner from the edge of the box.

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His display on this occasion (and the season as a whole) was a complete contrast to the player who was struggling to find his feet two years earlier. It was a similar story for another Arsenal striker who also broke his duck against the Saints…

Thierr-ing them apart

In 1999, Arsene Wenger found himself having to replace want-away striker Nicolas Anelka with a somewhat wet-behind-the-ears forward. Having spent a disastrous eight months floundering on the wing for Juventus, Thierry Henry’s £10m price tag seemed like a gamble. A gamble that looked like it was set to fail as, like Bergkamp, the Frenchman didn’t exactly hit the ground running and failed to score in his first seven matches for Arsenal, all the while looking nowhere near an adequate enough replacement for Anelka.
But then, Arsenal had a fixture at The Dell – otherwise known as the land of opportunity for Gunners forwards. With the game deadlocked at 0-0 with just 10 minutes to go, Tony Adams brought the ball forward from defence and laid on a pass to the struggling striker who then turned and curled a beautiful shot past Paul Jones and into back of the net. Not only did the goal give Arsenal all three

points, it also galvanised the player and  kick-startied the relentless run which saw him break eventually Wright’s goal record and at the same time go on to become the club’s greatest ever player.

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As Henry and Arsenal were reaching the peak of their wonderful relationship during the 2003/04 unbeaten season, it was So
uthampton once again who would be the victims as the French superstar scored his milestone 100th (and 101st) Premier League goal for Arsenal in a 2-0 win at Highbury. Latching onto an incisive Robert Pires pass, Henry’s electric pace left Saints defenders in his wake and despite the best efforts of Antti Niemi in goal, the Finnish keeper could not prevent the inevitable – a century of league goals book-ended with goals against the side from the South Coast.

Simply Pir-less

Henry wasn’t the only Frenchman from that team of ‘Invincibles’ to torment Southampton. During the 2001/02 title winning campaign, Robert Pires’ imperious form saw him rightly named the Football Writer’s player of the year, this despite his campaign being cut short by two months following a cruciate knee ligament injury.  Pires scored nine times and laid on 16 assists before being side-lined. After scoring a penalty on the opening day at Middlesbrough, his second goal of the season came against you know who as he grabbed the opener in a 2-0 win, subsequently scoring Arsenal’s first goal on their first visit to Southampton’s brand new St Marys Stadium.

Following seven months out injured, Pires returned to the Arsenal team as the 2002/03 campaign was already underway. During  a string of substitute appearances as he continued his rehabilitation, Pires scored what only proved to be a consolation goal as the Gunners surprisingly went down 3-2 away to the Saints. However, that far from his last contribution against the team from the south coast that season.

Following the gut-wrenching defeat against Leeds to surrender the title to Manchester United, Arsenal ended the season with two emphatic, if ultimately pointless wins. A 4-0 away win at Sunderland on the final day was preceded by a 6-1 demolition job on our seemingly favourite opponents. This was the first of what would go on to be Arsenal’s historic 49 match unbeaten league run. A run that was kicked off in some style as, as if channelling Ian Wright, not one but two Arsenal players netted hat tricks against poor Southampton.

Jermaine Pennant’s first half treble was remarkable enough but every one of the other six goals in the game were overshadowed when Robert Pires’ impudent first time chip from 25 yards in the second half sealed his own hat trick and leave Arsenal football fans the world over purring in delight.

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Even that wasn’t to be the last Southampton saw of Pires that season. A little over a week later, the Frenchman scored the winning goal in Cardiff to break Saints’ hearts yet again as Arsenal retained the FA Cup. For Pires, it signalled a rather sweet story of redemption having missed the previous year’s triumph with that career threatening injury.

Pires then scored his third goal in as many seasons at St. Marys the following year in a 1-0 win as Arsenal marched towards the title.

To say we’ve had it good against Southampton would be an understatement. Home or away, it’s a fixture that has often been kind to us. Saints have only ever won twice at Arsenal (the last time coming in 1987) and while absolutely nothing can be taken for granted against a rapidly improving team, it’s a sequence of results that Arsene Wenger’s team will be hoping to maintain this weekend. UTA!

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Other points.

• In keeping with the theme of great Arsenal strikers (yes, sorry) breaking their goal-scoring duck against Southampton, many will Robin van Persie’s first league goal coming as a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw where Rory Delap – Arsenal’s own nemesis – scored a Brace.
• Another 2-2 draw in 1989 ended in controversy as Arsenal equalised very, very late into injury time. The game is actually best remembered for an off the ball punch by Paul Davis that broke Glenn Cockerill’s jaw, earing the Arsenal man a 9 match ban and £3,000 fine.
• Despite his father’s ferocious record against them, Bradley Wright-Philips made over 100 appearances for the Saints scoring 25 times.
• Lukas Podolski’s first home goal for Arsenal came in last year’s 6-1 win.
• That 6-1 result was Southampton’s biggest Premier League defeat in nine years… since the 6-1 at Highbury in 2003 in fact.
• It’s not all bad for the Saints, however. They did of course beat Arsenal 3-2 in their final match at their old ground in 2001. The last minute winner being scored by club uber-legend Matthew Le Tissier. His last goal for the club.