On the hottest day of 2020, Arsenal were made to sweat but finally their Project Restart campaign has lift off.
This wasn’t pretty - Eddie Nketiah’s freak first-half winner illustrative of this cluttered game played out in the sweltering June heat.
Not that Mikel Arteta gave a damn. After two successive defeats this victory was a necessity - the manner of it was secondary.
By the time Joe Willock eased any late apprehension, Southampton were down to 10 men as Jack Stephens was sent off for trying to reprieve his team Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s dreadful error.