A Martin Odegaard strike with one minute to go saw us end the 2024/25 campaign on a high as we edged past Southampton at St Mary’s.
Kieran Tierney netted for us just before half-time to put a much-changed Gunners side in front, but Ross Stewart netted a header from a corner to draw the relegated hosts level. However, Odegaard was introduced off the bench and made an impact by fizzing in a 25-yarder to record our first win at the Saints for four years, and get the win we deserved.
Despite conceding, David Raya claimed a share of the Premier League Golden Glove to retain the award for the second season, while we got the result necessary to secure second spot for the third season in succession.
dominance rewarded
We began well and Gabriel Martinelli was finding plenty of joy on the left flank, and after he headed into the arms of Aaron Ramsdale in the second minute, he whipped a cross in for Mikel Merino who rippled the roof of the net with his own aerial effort.
Watching on from the stands due to his touchline ban, Mikel Arteta would have enjoyed what he was seeing from a different vantage point. Raheem Sterling curled a shot just wide as he looked to end his loan spell with his first league goal for us, and Merino went closer again on 24 minutes when another great Martinelli delivery was met by the Spaniard’s head, but this time he struck the woodwork with Ramsdale beaten.
Given the gulf in positions between the two sides, the first half was as one-sided as you’d expect, with the Saints’ only threatening moment coming when Jay Robinson nodded a good chance well wide of the target, but as half-time crept closer to kept pushing and after Martinelli had raced through on goal, only a smart block from ramsdale prevented him from netting.
The resulting corner came out to Oleksandr Zinchenko who let fly and only a slight deflection from Yuki Sugawara proved crucial as the ball whistled just off-target, but with two minutes of the opening 45 to go, we finally found the breakthrough.
Martinelli was again involved, this time on the right, and was available to play a one-two with the overlapping Ben White who sent a dangerous low centre into the box, and Tierney snuck in to tuck the ball past Ramsdale on what could prove to be his Gunners swansong.
Saints strike back
However the hosts came out with a sense of nothing to lose and Raya was called into action on 54 minutes when Robinson wriggled past a couple of defenders and shot goalwards but our Spanish stopper beat it away.
But from the corner kick he saw the clean sheet he craved disappear when Stewart flicked Mateus Feranndes’ delivery into the top corner to grab an equaliser. News quickly filtered through that Nottingham Forest had conceded against Chelsea so our shot-stopper would share the Golden Glove with Forest’s Matz Sels.
We thought we’d managed to get back in front with 14 minutes to go when Declan Rice forced a good save from Ramsdale but Bukayo Saka was on hand to head in the rebound, however he was well offside and the goal was chalked off by the linesman.
Captain fantastic
Just as it looked as though the season would peter out with a draw, our skipper had other ideas and a minute from time popped up with the winner. He drove forward from midfield, exchanged passes with fellow substitute Leandro Trossard and then after skipping past a defender, drilled a low shot past Ramsdale’s reach to put us back in front.
After seven minutes of added time had elapsed and the curtain came down on the campaign, that goal meant we won on the final day for the 14th season in a row, breaking an English league record held by Liverpool for 101 years. But more importantly, it sent the squad off into their summer break lifted, and excited for what 2025/26 brings.
FACTS AND STATS
Southampton have become the first team in Premier League history to lose 30 games in a season, and indeed the first team to lose 30 games in a 38-game top-flight campaign.
We have finished second for the third consecutive Premier League campaign. It’s the fifth time in top-flight history a team has been runners-up three years in a row, with us the first side to do so twice (also 1998/99 to 2000/01).
We haven’t conceded more than twice in any of our 58 games in all competitions this season, just the third time in the Premier League era a side has gone through an entire campaign without conceding 3+ in a match (also Manchester United in 2007/08 and 2017/18).
We scored more goals from corners than any other side in the Premier League this season (14), while they also conceded the highest share of their goals from corners (23.5% - 8/34).
Declan Rice became the 50th different player to start a Premier League match as captain for us. He was the first to do so for the first time on the final day of a season since Nacho Monreal in 2018/19 (3-1 win v Burnley).
Kieran Tierney scored his fourth Premier League goal, with all four coming against teams to be relegated that season (also v Watford in 2019/20, West Brom in 2020/21 and Norwich in 2021/22).
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