Olivier Giroud leaves it late as Arsenal rescue a point that never looked on the cards against Southampton

If this was Olivier Giroud’s last goal for Arsenal, at least he made it count, rescuing a last-minute point at St Mary’s that never looked on the cards.

It was a typical Giroud goal, heading a cross into the bottom corner, bailing out his team. He was Arsene Wenger’s last roll of the dice, replacing Alexandre Lacazette, and yet with that one flick of his head he did more than his off-key team-mates had managed all afternoon.

Arsenal had been behind for 86 whole minutes but for all their blanket possession they had hardly ever come close to scoring. It had been sterile domination, in Wenger’s famous phrase, not even profligate in front of goal but simply not creating anything. Southampton had been by far the better team, and were seconds away from a victory that would have been deserved for this tactical masterclass from Mauricio Pellegrino.

Southampton had been immaculate in defence all afternoon until the 88th minute, defending in a 5-4-1, slowing down the game, doing everything that had so effectively frustrated Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium last month. Maya Yoshida, Jack Stevens and Virgil van Dijk had all been immaculate and Fraser Forster had only had two real saves to make, from Aaron Ramsey in the first half and from one late Alexis Sanchez free kick. Arsenal had not done enough to deserve anything from the game.

But with 88 minutes on the clock, Sanchez popped up on the left and clipped a cross into the box. Giroud jumped highest, just behind Van Dijk and flicked a header into the far bottom corner. It was Giroud’s seventh of the season, but he has still not started a league game this year which is why he wants to go next month, with the World Cup on his mind. If he does, there are worse ways to bow out than like this.

Up until that point this had been an immensely frustrating afternoon for Arsenal who looked like repeating some of the same mistakes they made last Saturday. Eight days ago Arsenal lost to Manchester United because they gifted their opponents two goals in the first 10 minutes, building themselves a mountain they could not climb. Here at Southampton they had to be better than that, and yet Arsenal are a team where lessons are learned slowly if at all. The first 10 minutes, again, were a defensive shambles and it is only the relative quality of the opposition that meant they only conceded one.

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Southampton were set up to play on the break but Arsenal were so desperately open that they cut through three times in the first few minutes. The goal, two minutes in, was simple and incisive. After a quick throw-in down the right, Austin passed the ball forward to Dusan Tadic, who turned Per Mertesacker far too easily. He returned a pass to Austin, continuing his run, and it was a simple enough finish from there.

That should have been a warning but one minute later Austin was through again, bearing down on goal, but Petr Cech read his intentions well, got down and saved. Still the lumbering Arsenal back line could not pick Austin up: he turned a Ryan Bertrand cross onto the post, although the offside flag was up. The sooner Shkodran Mustafi gets back to fitness the better because on this evidence Mertesacker cannot compete in the Premier League any more.

With the lead, Southampton could defend as deep as they wanted, their 4-4-2 becoming a 5-4-1 out of possession, as James Ward-Prowse shifted from right wing to wing-back. Often Austin was the only man not in the Saints box. But they defended with discipline, rigour and intelligence throughout.

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Of course Arsenal dominated possession but they struggled to do much with it. Alexis Sanchez was as off-form as he has been for weeks and whenever Alexandre Lacazette was lurking in the box he was shut down by Yoshida or Van Dijk. The one real save Fraser Forster had to make in the first half was from an Aaron Ramsey shot from the edge of the box.

The second half followed much the same pattern, endless Arsenal possession but none of it dangerous. Granit Xhaka had plenty of time on the ball but could do nothing with it. First Danny Welbeck then Jack Wilshere then Giroud, the eventual goalscorer, all came on. And yet the more men Arsenal threw on, the more dangerous Saints looked on the break. Oriol Romeu pinged one 20-yarder against the bar before Nathan Redmond missed a glaring chance for 2-0, racing past Laurent Koscielny only to miscue his dink just wide of the far post.

That was the turning point of the game, and had Redmond killed the game off the scoreline would have been a fair reflection of the play. But he did not and, unlike against United, Arsenal had a late saviour. This time they escaped with a point but the problems are as clear as ever.

Southampton (4-4-2) Forster; Stephens, Yoshida, Van Dijk, Bertrand; Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Hojbjerg, Redmond (Boufal, 74); Austin (Gabbiadini, 86), Tadic

Arsenal (3-4-3) Cech; Koscielny, Mertesacker (Welbeck, 64), Monreal; Bellerin, Xhaka (Wilshere, 69), Ramsey, Kolasinac; Ozil, Lacazette (Giroud, 72), Sanchez

MoM Yoshida