Arsenal held 1-1 by Southampton, leads by 2 points in EPL

SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) — Arsenal’s eight-match winning run in all competitions ended with a 1-1 draw at Southampton, leaving Mikel Arteta’s team with a two-point lead in the Premier League on Sunday.

Granit Xhaka’s fourth goal of the season put Arsenal ahead in the 11th minute, the Swiss international — reveling in his new attacking-midfield position — converting a first-time shot with his weaker right foot after a cross from right back Ben White.

Arsenal had plenty of chances to double its lead, with Gabriel Jesus spurning the best two of them, and Stuart Armstrong made the visitors pay when he finished off a slick, length-of-the-field move by Southampton by running onto Mohamed Elyounoussi’s through-ball and clipping a shot past goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

Martin Odegaard had a goal for Arsenal disallowed in the 79th minute because the ball was just out of play before Kieran Tierney crossed for the Norway playmaker.

Arsenal came into the game having won nine of its 10 league games — including its last four in a row since the Sept. 4 loss at Manchester United. Arsenal had also won four straight in the Europa League.

Second-place Manchester City applied pressure on Arsenal with a 3-1 win over Brighton on Saturday.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta felt his team contributed to its own undoing at St. Mary’s Stadium.

“Complaints? No, no complaints,” the Spaniard said. “This is football and I think we were really, really good in the first half and controlled totally the game and created big chances that we didn’t put away.

“In the Premier League, unfortunately, when you don’t do that when you are on top of the game you can pay the price. In the second half we had some difficulties. We put ourselves in problems with the amount of giveaways that we had, especially in possession, that didn’t allow us to control the game the way we wanted. We stopped doing all the simple things right.”