A read through the headlines this week reveals that almost to man the press are writing off Saints at The Emirates, hopefully Arsenal will have the same complacency.

All the talk in the press is about how Arsenal will have new signings making debuts, star names returning and the fact that as long as they turn up they will be guaranteed all three points against Saints.

Hopefully if the media are that complacent, then perhaps the Gunners will be of the same mindset and Saints can go there and mount a shock.

Indeed in both of our encounters last season Saints were decidedly the underdogs in both fixtures, going into the game at St Mary's on Boxing Day on the back of 4 defeats in the previous 5 Premier League games with the only point being against rock bottom Aston Villa, throw in that 6-1 cup defeat to Liverpool and there was only gojng to be one winner, wasn't there !

The trip to the Emirates was a little better in that Saints had rallied to three straight wins before, but no one was putting money on Saints and we were good money for a draw albeit with a bit of a rearguard action.

This will be a tough game that is for sure, but those that write off Saints do so at their peril and perhaps are reading too much into headlines rather than statistics.

In the opening three games yes Saints have drawn two and lost one, but in the two draws have dominated the game and just failed to take their chances and at Manchester United deserved a bit more than they got with a dodgy penalty being a harsh decision that settled United's nerves.

But in that game and in the other two Saints have shown enough to suggest that when they adapt to the new system they can be a force to be reckoned with, once again we are tight at the back, two of the four goals conceded came from penalties, we keep the ball well and win it back when not in possession.

Our number of shots has been the second highest in the Premier League.

In fact our only problem has been our failure to score goals, that is not a question of not having the players to do so, it has been a question of poor finishing and good goalkeeping.

But all of our attacking options are proven in the Premier League, Austin, Rodriguez and Long have the ability to hit 45 goals between them and there are the likes of Tadic and Redmond who are good for half a dozen or so each, not to mention new signing Boufal when fit.

So although many Saints supporters are going along the populist opinion route that the new system is a failure, the stats say otherwise, but the one stat we fall down on is the one that matters and that is when you are holding a Banjo and you are stood in front (or behind) a cow's arse you have to hit it, that has been the problem, two better pieces of finishing and the Premier League table would look much better.

So the critics writing Saints off do so at their peril, when we trooped off the Emirates pitch last season with a hard earned point there was only one irrefutable fact and that was we were another step nearer ending our near 30 year spell without a win at Arsenal in the League.

We will now be a little more used to the system, the return of the likes of Ryan Bertrand will help that, but all we really need is a bit more finishing power.

I am not going to deny that Saturday's game will be tough, but Arsenal have shown in ther opening games they are not firing on all cylinders either and are not infallible.

Their crowd is uneasy and that could work in our favour.

It would be a brave man who would predict a Saints win, but it would be a shortsighted one who predicted a heavy defeat based just on two points from the opening three games.

Photo: Action Images

law101 added 10:49 - Sep 8 Nick if you think Austin, Long and J-Rod will score 45 goals between them this season you've had a bang to the head.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 11:15 - Sep 8 If JRod and Austin get regular games, find form and stay fit then they can score goals. There's no question about that. They haven't played much so far but with a game every 3 days over the next few months they are bound to get games and be given a chance to find form. Their success is far from guaranteed but the club must have confidence in them or they would've signed another striker. We've got decent striker options but no target man and we've relied heavily on a target man for years. Without that plan B (long diagonal balls up to Pelle/Lambert) we might struggle to score against teams with 10 men behind the ball. They will now be heavily reliant on the likes of Tadic and Boufal to open up defences with cute passes and dribbles. Away from home where we can counter attack we should always get chances (as we saw at Old Trafford) with the likes of Redmond, Long and Boufal on the break.

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SaintNick added 11:26 - Sep 8 law101. I am going on what they have achieved in the past, if fit and given games they can all repeat their previous form or have they all suddenly turned into crap overnight. In January we were all salivating over Austin, he had an injury but that hasnt affected his eye for a goal
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helpineedsomebody added 12:23 - Sep 8 seeing what ive seen so far its like watching paint dry & its down to this new system we play its looks like its going to take a long time to a win a game of football
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bstokesaint added 12:38 - Sep 8 I can't see past a home win I'm afraid. It pains me to feel so negative, but until I see us put in a decent display under Puel there's no reason to believe results will follow. I'm certainly not getting on his back, but I know we were promised "exciting and attacking" football and until I see even a glimpse of that, I don't see us beating any of the top sides. Presumably his previously highly-regarded style used the same formation he is trying to adopt now?

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Bettwsresident added 13:15 - Sep 8 I've written this one off, but an hoping to be surprised. Arsenal are only 1.6 on betfair so betting people don't think its a foregone conclusion. England were 1.22 yesterday against Pakistan and see what happened.
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Jesus_02 added 16:23 - Sep 8 Bettwsresident : Arsenal are a nightmare accumulator destroying bet, plus football being football funny stuff can happen in penalty boxes. No result is forgone conclusion but I wouldn't put a penny on a Saints win. Lets hope I'm proved wrong but the system we play requires world beaters. The sad truth is we have sold everyone that top teams need or want appart from VVD and Fonte (maybe Bertrand). If we had 11 players the quality of VVD , Hojbjerg and Fonte etc we would be challenging top 6 again. You simply cant sell Mane and Pelle and not sign at least one striker. There are three teams worse than us so we wont get relegated but there will be a point in th season when we all get pretty scared. The hope that I cling to is that Puel is flexible enough to compromise, have two up front, crowd the midfield and get the odd scrappy result before January Sorry feeling pretty bleak at the moment

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SanMarco added 18:13 - Sep 8 Not sure we have ever gone into a match at Arsenal as favourites. The most likely result is a defeat, of course it is, but if we avoid the defensive errors that have led to all 4 goals we have conceded so far then who knows - we may even make Jesus feel less bleak....
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DPeps added 18:30 - Sep 8 I'd never underestimate Arsenal's ability to make a pig's ear of things, but on this occasion I fully expect them to win. That's OK but at the very least we need a good performance and a demonstration that we have cutting edge up front.
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Bettwsresident added 18:31 - Sep 8 Jesus_02: I agree with you about arsenal having backed them for the title last year! I do however think we did sign a striker to replace Mane and Pelle. Charlie Austin, and we have Jrod, who was going to go to brazil until he got crocked coming back. I thought Jrod looked almost back to his best last game. As I have said many times on this forum, it is the system we are playing that scares me and has rightly been identified as likely to be shredded by Arsenals wide play. 4.2.3.1 suited us so well, I really hope Puel lines up ths way on saturday with Romeu or Reed and Hojberg as the 2 infront of the 4. Arsenal aren't a big team and Harry Reed has positional sense and loves a tackle. This could be the game for him to establish himself.

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DPeps added 18:31 - Sep 8 And a Plan B that isn't just shoooooot from long range
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MauriceDear51 added 08:50 - Sep 10 4 -1 SAINTS win....cheers.Maurice Millbrook
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