Southampton vs Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez must be played through the middle, Saints' scoring problem persists

Alexis Sanchez hit his 20th Premier League goal of the season as Arsenal saw off Southampton to keep their Premier League top-four hopes alive.

The Gunners secured a vital 2-0 win in this game in hand to leapfrog Manchester United into fifth and now sit three points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City.

Sanchez struck the opener on the hour mark at St Mary's before Olivier Giroud came off the bench to make sure of the points with a close-range header.

Here are five things we learned from an important win for Arsène Wenger's side...

Among the many complaints of Arsenal’s permanently-disgruntled support is that they have “the same season year in, year out”. It was a complaint made more than once outside the Allianz Arena, the Hawthorns and Selhurst Park after defeats in recent months, but those same complainants are probably now hoping it comes to pass.

After all, Arsenal may falter, they may fall, they may utterly and predictably embarrass themselves on several occasions over the course of a season, but they always seem to qualify for the Champions League, and often do so thanks to a late and improbable surge. They still have a lot to do to pull it off this time around, but this three points has given them a chance.

This win certainly will not have been welcomed in Liverpool, who cannot afford to drop points this weekend when they visit a West Ham United side that has kept four cleans sheets in five matches. Arsenal may have a lot of football to play but suddenly, they have momentum and that could make the difference over the final stretch.

Apparently, Alexis Sanchez enjoyed not scoring. He enjoyed the fact he went into this game with just two goals in nine league games, and enjoyed looking lost out on the left wing after playing his best football of the season as a central striker.

That’s according to Arsene Wenger, anyway, who claimed as much last month. “He can get more of the ball,” Wenger said. “He has to keep the balance between providing and goalscoring.”

If that is the case, and we must take Wenger at his word, then how strange that Sanchez should seem so happy after neglecting his duties on the flank, taking his place as the focal point on one attack and subsequently opening the scoring.

Wenger should have defied his best player’s wishes for the benefit of the team a long time ago. Sanchez has rarely spent much time in the centre of the pitch in the last few months, but when he did here, he scored a goal that could mean so much to Arsenal’s season.

Come 5.30pm on the final day, Southampton’s mid-table league position may be considered par for the course, but it is hard to escape the feeling that Claude Puel’s debut campaign has been something of a disappointment.

The EFL Cup run may have been enjoyable for the club’s supporters, but their home league form has been anything but. The Saints have only scored 17 goals at St Mary’s this season, with only Burnley and West Ham United conceding more than twice on their respective visits.

Here was another game where a pregnable defence went untested, 11 days after that dour stalemate against Hull City. If Puel survives the summer, he will need to solve his side’s problem with scoring.

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s future at Arsenal remains in doubt and that is because of two things: his injury-ravaged lower body and his failure to fully master a position.

Here, he returned to his former club on the back of several impressive displays as a makeshift right-wing back, performances good enough to suggest that he could solve the latter problem and that a contract extension may be in the offing after all.

The 23-year-old, whose current deal expires next summer, was on his way to another good showing too until he was cut down by an apparent muscle problem in the 36th minute.

The injury he limped off with not only puts his mini-renaissance on hold and his FA Cup final place at risk but worse, reminds his current employers and any potential suitors of the frustrating limitation on his potential.

There seemed to be few ways of stopping Manolo Gabbiadini upon his arrival at St Mary’s, with six goals in his first four appearances. It was an eye-catching start, but one that he has failed to replicate in the week since.

The injury he picked up in fifth game, away to Tottenham, means he must be given the benefit of the doubt, but it cannot be denied that he has been a shadow of the player who started so impressively.

The question is, is this the real Gabbiadini? A glance at his scoring record in Serie A suggests those early days on the south coast were something of a hot streak, as did his failure to convert a presentable chance just after the half-hour.