OptiNews - Friday 08 to Thursday 14 December 2017

Southampton Football Club
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Sourced from Daily Mail article

Southampton vs Arsenal: Team news, kick-off time, odds and stats

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Ahead of this weekend’s Premier League action, Sportsmail will be providing you with all you need to know about every fixture, with team news, provisional squads, betting odds and Opta stats. Here is all the information you need for Southampton’s home clash with Arsenal.

Arsenal are sweating over the fitness of Shkodran Mustafi ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Southampton.

The defender was forced off early on in last weekend’s defeat by Manchester United and could be out of the St Mary’s clash with a thigh problem.

Santi Cazorla (ankle) is the only other absentee with manager Arsene Wenger set to recall a host of first-team players rested for Thursday’s 6-0 Europa League win over BATE Borisov.

Southampton have only lost one of their last six home Premier League games against Arsenal (W2 D3), though it was in the last such meeting back in May (0-2).

Arsenal haven’t won successive away league games against Southampton since August 1997.

However, Arsenal did win twice at St Mary’s last season, earning a 5-0 victory in an FA Cup fourth round match thanks to a Theo Walcott hat-trick, and a 2-0 win in the Premier League.

Southampton have never lost three home games in all competitions against a single opponent in a calendar year, while Arsenal last won three away matches against an opponent in a calendar year in 1987 against Spurs (four wins).

Only two Arsenal players have scored more goals in their first 15 Premier League appearances for the club than Alexandre Lacazette (8) – Alexis Sanchez (9) and Ian Wright (10).

The Gunners have lost 11 league matches in 2017, their worst tally in a calendar year since 1995 (14).

No Premier League player has made more Premier League appearances without starting a game than Olivier Giroud this season (12, level with Diafra Sakho) – at a single club, only Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Man Utd (17) has more Premier League substitute goals than Giroud does for Arsenal (16), including three this season.

Arsenal have already recovered as many points from losing positions this season as they managed in the entirety of last season (9) and won more matches from behind this season (3) than last season (2).

Fraser Forster has conceded just five goals in his five Premier League games against Arsenal, despite the Gunners having 30 shots on target against the England keeper.

Charlie Austin has scored seven goals in his last 10 Premier League starts for Southampton, including three in his last two.

Austin has scored in both of his previous two Premier League appearances against Arsenal, but he ended up on the losing side for QPR (both 1-2) on both occasions.

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Sourced from Sky Sports article

Arsene Wenger admits his Arsenal team are focusing on next game and not Premier League title

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Arsene Wenger admits his Arsenal team are focusing on next game and not Premier League title

Arsene Wenger has admitted Arsenal are further away from being title hopefuls as ever ahead of Sunday’s trip to Southampton.

The Arsenal manager conceded it was unrealistic for the Gunners to talk about winning the Premier League, after losing 3-1 at home to rivals Manchester United last weekend.

Arsenal are in fifth place, 15 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, ahead of travelling to St Mary’s and it is expected Wenger will once again rotate the entire starting XI.

Players such as Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud, who all featured in the 6-0 Europa League thrashing of BATE Borisov at the Emirates, are likely to make way for Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Alexandre Lacazette.

“At the moment we have different worries than the title,” Wenger said. "After such disappointment, you have to think about winning the next game.

“We are too far from the title at the moment to speak about the title. It’s not realistic. Let’s try to win our next game and over a longer distance see if we can come back.”

Wilshere again shone in Europe’s secondary competition but he, along with Walcott, Giroud, Mohamed Elneny and Francis Coquelin, are likely to be kept waiting to make an impact in the league.

Although he will make sweeping changes at Southampton, Wenger did question the fairness of playing the game at noon on Sunday.

“I have nothing against the fact that we have to do that, as long as our opponents have the same recovery days,” he said when asked about the time between the BATE and Southampton games.

“That was not the case last week and will not be the case again. Between three days and five days is a big gap on the recovery side. If we have to play every day I don’t mind as long as our opponents do as well.”

Another player enjoying a resurgence in the Arsenal side is defender Mathieu Debuchy, who got the ball rolling in the win over BATE as he scored his first goal in almost three years.

“He is under contract [until 2019],” Wenger replied when asked if his 32-year-old had a genuine future at the club.

"That’s down to his performances now and I opened the door for him [to leave] many times because he didn’t play and because he has (Hector) Bellerin in front of him.

“I consider him like anybody else and I must say I have a huge respect for his professional side and how much he did fight to come back to the top. He’s a tough, tough guy. Tough worker.”

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Sourced from Daily Mail article

Premier League team news, odds and stats from every match this weekend

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Ahead of this weekend’s matches in the Premier League, Sportsmail brings you the latest squad news, odds and stats on every top flight fixture as it breaks.

Simply click on your team in the fixture list below to find out who is ruled out and who is making a return as well as all the key statistics surrounding your club’s fixture.

In or out? Keep up-to-date with all the latest team news and stats ahead of the weekend

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Sourced from Daily Echo article

Boufal: ‘there’s so much more to come’

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SOFIANE Boufal insists that Saints have not seen his true quality yet and says just “wait and see”.

The Moroccan attacking midfielder is growing in influence at St Mary’s, having had a difficult first season after his then club-record £16m move from Lille in the summer of 2016.

The 24-year-old rarely played at the beginning of this campaign, either, but a sensational solo goal against West Bromwich Albion “helped” him establish himself at Saints.

Now, after increasingly good performances, Boufal, who is adamant there’s so much more to come from him, is starting to deliver what the club must have dreamt of when they signed the mercurial talent.

“I have more confidence and I feel fitter. I now feel very good in my body and in my head,” he said.

“Now I play more regularly it’s easier for me to show my qualities and I know my qualities and at the moment you don’t see a lot of my qualities; I know I can do better.”

When asked what more Saints supporters can expected to see from him, he smiled and said: “Wait and see.”

He continued: “I feel better and better and I feel more fit and confident. Yes, I need to progress, I need to be more consistent, I know this, but now the most difficult period is gone and now I look forward to the future.

“To be honest with you, I’m confident for the future.”

A knee injury he suffered in May 2016 while at former club Lille hampered his early progress at Saints, having had to wait until October 2016 to make his debut.

Inflammation of that same knee later in the season meant he missed the Africa Cup of Nations and other fitness niggles meant he never really got any momentum last term, despite making 30 appearances in all competitions.

“I don’t know one player who just do the good, good, good moments in football – all players do bad moments and a bad season,” he said, talking about his first season at St Mary’s.

“I came last season and I was injured. I didn’t do preseason and I knew my first season would be difficult. But all these things are behind me and now I look forward.”

After that tough first campaign, Boufal didn’t rest.

During the summer, while most of the football world were sunning themselves, the tricky attacker was putting in extra hours of training so he could really make his mark this campaign.

“I had four weeks holidays and I didn’t take much of that as holiday because I worked a lot in the summer to prepare for this season,” he explains.

“I knew this season was very important for me.

“The start of this season did not go as well as I’d hoped for, but it’s football and I worked hard in this moment. I stay focused and I knew when the manager gave me my chance I would take it.

“Now I feel better, I feel fit and I’m confident about the future.”

Certainly, those extra sessions have started to pay dividends. His wonderful winning solo goal against West Brom as well as a brilliant touch and assist at Manchester City for Oriol Romeu’s strike at the Etihad Stadium is testament to that.

The Baggies strike, which saw him burst out of his own half, weave past several opponents before slotting home, will live long in the memory for Saints fans, and Boufal knows how significant that goal was to changing his fortunes at St Mary’s.

Boufal, who now wants to find more consistency, started just one of Saints’ opening eight Premier League matches, mainly being used as an option from the bench by boss Mauricio Pellegrino.

“If the manager put me out it’s because he had a good reason, so I needed to work harder,” he said.

“Yes, my goal against West Brom helped me because I play more now and I’m more confident. It helped my confidence.

“Now I’m playing regularly and I’m happy and I need to progress better, but I’m not so worried about that.”

He added: “I know my qualities and I know this kind of goal I can do, because in France I did this – I scored one or two goals like this.

“That’s my qualities; I can score a goal like that.”

Boufal is now targeting his first World Cup with Morocco, but knows his form at Saints will be important in making his dream of going to Russia next summer become a reality.

Morocco were drawn against Euro 2016 champions Portugal, Spain and Iran in their group for the tournament.

“For going to Russia I need a very good season with Southampton, so now I’m focused about my club,” Boufal said.

“But it’s a dream to play in a World Cup. We have very difficult games, a difficult group, against some big teams, but we have good players and we have nothing to lose.

“Now I’m more focused with my club because it’s the club who will help me to play at the World Cup.”

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Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

#SaintsFC boss Mauricio Pellegrino confirms @OficialCedric’s injury will prevent him from playing against #Arsenal: http://sfcne.ws/SquadNewsAFC

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Sourced from Optimus trousers’ RSS Feed rss feed

The Ugly Inside News for Southampton

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Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

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#SaintsFCU18s’ trip to #AVFC tomorrow in the #U18PL has been postponed due to adverse weather conditions.

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Sourced from Optimus trousers summary article summary

Summary of non-mainstream articles: 08/12/2017 15:08:42

| | Is A Sunday Noon Kick Off The Worst Time For Football Fans ? - Southampton NewsTHEUGLYINSIDE |
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| Mustafi ruled out of Southampton trip | Arseblog News - the Arsenal news siteARSEBLOG |

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Sourced from Southampton FC - Official Site article

Support SportPesa’s Kits For Africa campaign

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There is still time to support the Kits For Africa campaign launched by Southampton’s Official Betting Partner, SportPesa, which seeks to distribute kits donated by fans, players and global sporting communities for use by grassroots football teams in Africa.

As explained by Saints captain Steven Davis in the above video, a series of distribution points will be in position around St Mary’s on matchdays for people to donate clean and wearable kit.

They were introduced for the home game against Everton and will remain a fixture through to the clash with Crystal Palace on Tuesday 2nd January, meaning supporters can bring along any sportswear they would like to give.

Speaking at the launch of Kits For Africa, SportPesa’s chief marketing officer Joyce Kibe said: “There are many grassroots teams in Africa that already perform so well just from having a strong belief in their own ability.

“We want to do our part by giving them new kits that we have collected with the help of our international football partners and, in doing so, allow the teams to focus more on what is important – developing their skills.

“The more kits we receive, the more teams we can support and impact across the continent.”

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Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

#OnThisDay in 2012, Jason Puncheon’s solitary strike proved the difference as #SaintsFC beat #ReadingFC in the #PL!… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/939154633355755520

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Sourced from Mirror.co.uk article

Arsene Wenger claims Arsenal’s rivals have been given advantage in title race

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Arsene Wenger has become the latest manager to hit out at the Premier League over the lack of recovery time between matches.

The Arsenal Gunners boss is fuming that Arsenal will face Southampton on Sunday at midday - just 62 hours after demolishing Bate Borisov 6-0 in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Although Wenger is set to change his entire line-up for the weekend, he remains frustrated at the quick turnaround.

“I have nothing against the fact that we have to do that, as long as our opponents have the same recovery days.

“That was not the case last week [against Manchester United] and will not be the case again. Between three days and five days is a big gap on the recovery side. If we have to play every day I don’t mind as long as our opponents do as well.”

Southampton have had a clear week to prepare to face Arsenal following last Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.

Wenger added: “I have not spoken to the Premier League but I think there is a job there to respect the fairness of the competition. If you look at it, I think many teams don’t fight on an equal front on the recovery side.

“What I would like is that the teams who have tight schedules are faced with the same problems. I don’t mind, I can understand what we have to play all the games, you just want to play teams with the same problems as you.”

Arsenal suffered from a day less to recover last week than their opponents Manchester United.

Jose Mourinho’s side beat Watford on the Tuesday before heading to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal on the Saturday night. The Gunners, who had beaten Huddersfield on the Wednesday, were themselves seen off by the Reds 3-1.

Wenger has refused to rule Arsenal out of the title race, despite the scintillating form of runaway leaders Manchester City. The Frenchman has insisted his side will continue to focus on themselves and their own form going into the busy festive period.

“I just said that at the moment we have different worries than the title,” he said. “After such disappointment, you have to think about winning the next game. We are too far from the title at the moment to speak about the title. It’s not realistic. Let’s try to win our next game and over a longer distance see if we can come back.

“It was a difficult defeat to take against United. In football when you should win the game, you want to take the points. All the numbers went for us and the result went against us. That is always difficult to accept but we have to go into the next game and respond straightaway again.”

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Sourced from Southampton FC - Official Site article

Ticket Information: Saints vs Leicester City

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Saints face Leicester City in the Premier League on Wednesday 13th December (7.45pm). Ticket information is as follows:

Become an Official Member and get priority access on tickets to each and every home match. Adult Members will also now benefit from £5 off two Premier League fixtures whilst Junior Members will receive enhanced Welcome Packs with free gifts. Find out more about Official Membership here.

For certain fixtures, groups of 20 or more can make savings. Find out more and enquire here.

Making a weekend of it? Book your ticket and hotel break via Thomas Cook Sport. Find out more and book online at thomascooksport.com

Tickets are restricted to one per Supporter Number. Fans can purchase more than one ticket in each transaction by linking other eligible accounts with theirs using our friends and family function.

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Sourced from Optimus trousers summary article summary

Summary of non-mainstream articles: 08/12/2017 16:08:56

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Sourced from Premier League - Official Site article

DEFAULTVideo: Three key points: Southampton v Arsenal

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Sourced from talkSPORT article

Arsenal FC: Predicted Gunners XI for Premier League clash v Southampton

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Arsenal will be hoping to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they make the trip to Southampton on Sunday – LIVE on talkSPORT.

The Gunners suffered their first home defeat of the season against Manchester United last time out and face a Saints side who have lost three out of their last five fixtures.

Arsene Wenger’s side trail fourth placed Liverpool by a single point and can reignite their push for Champions League qualification with a victory at St Mary’s.

So, how could the Gunners line-up against Southampton?

Click the right arrow, above, to see talkSPORT’s predicted Arsenal XI listed in squad number order…

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Sourced from BBC article

Southampton v Arsenal

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Jeremy Pied is expected to deputise once more at right-back, while forward Shane Long is a doubt with a calf problem.

Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi is out due to a thigh injury sustained against Manchester United last weekend.

Manager Arsene Wenger will recall a number of regulars who were rested for Thursday’s Europa League victory.

Conor McNamara: "Mauricio Pellegrino has had just one win in six games. Already in 2017, Southampton have been beaten twice by Arsenal at St Mary’s. The club have never lost three times at home to the same opponent in a calendar year in all competitions.

"Arsenal’s defeat by Manchester United pushed them out of the top four. The form of the teams above has added real jeopardy to their pursuit of a Champions League place.

“The Europa League doesn’t quite cut it for fans who had grown used to 20 consecutive years in Europe’s premier competition. Thursday’s crowd was Arsenal’s lowest at The Emirates since the move from Highbury.”

Southampton head coach Mauricio Pellegrino: "We have to create chances to try and find in every single game a different solution, different ways to try to attack.

“I hope Charlie Austin can continue in the same way. He is in great goalscoring form and his confidence is high.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "At the moment we have different worries than the title. After such disappointment [losing to Manchester United], you have to think about winning the next game.

"We are too far from the title at the moment to speak about the title. It’s not realistic.

“Let’s try to win our next game and over a longer distance see if we can come back.”

Southampton came back to get a point against Bournemouth last week and I am going to go for another draw here.

I don’t think Saints will test Arsenal’s defence in the same way United did, but they won’t give too much away at the back either.

SAM (Sports Analytics Machine) is a super-computer created by @ProfIanMcHale at the University of Liverpool that is used to predict the outcome of football matches.

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Sourced from A tweet by SouthamptonFC tweet

@SouthamptonFC - Southampton FC

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A date for #SaintsFC’s visit to #FFC in the #EmiratesFACup has been set! Full details: http://sfcne.ws/FFCDate

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Sourced from talkSPORT article

Premier League 2017/18 table: Super computer predicts standings following busy Christmas fixture list

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The Premier League season is nearing its halfway point, in what has been another campaign filled with thrills, spills and net-busting goals.

We’ve seen a mixed bag of results too, with some teams over-performing compared to expectations and others underperforming – we’re looking at you Everton.

So, ahead of another set of a bumper December list of festive fixtures, in which teams are due to play six games between now and the new year, talkSPORT.com has turned to the Super Computer to try and find out what the standings will look like at the end of December.

The data has been fed and a predicted table has reached us, with it suggesting the top four will separate from the chasing pack.

Check out how the super computer has predicted the standings for the end of December by scrolling through the gallery above.

The table, of course, should be taken with a pinch of salt. As we know, anything can happen throughout the month, but it is always fun to speculate!

Where do you think your team will be at the end of 2017? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below…

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Sourced from Optimus trousers summary article summary

Summary of non-mainstream articles: 08/12/2017 17:09:10

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| Brentford FC Match Preview: Hull CityBRENTFORDFC |
| | Wenger questions Southampton kickoff timeSPORTSMOLE |

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Sourced from Southampton FC - Official Site article

Press conference (Part One): Pellegrino previews Arsenal

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