Arsenal will want to carry the momentum from the Manchester City victory and avenge the loss to Southampton last season when they travel to St. Mary's in a big English Premier League Boxing Day clash on Saturday.
Southampton were 2-0 winners over Arsenal in the same fixture last season, played on New Year's Day, but the scenario leading up to this game is a little different.
While the Saints were flying high this time last season, their campaign has not quite taken off in the same manner in 2015-16. Southampton are only 12th in the points table at the moment, with six losses already suffered, and Arsenal will be confident of exacting a seventh defeat.
"To beat Arsenal it's more difficult this season than it was last year, because I think they play a little bit different," Southampton manager Ronald Koeman, whose side haven't won in six matches, told the club's official website.
"It looks like when they don't have the ball it's more a defensive way to play and of course one of the strengths of Arsenal is when they win the ball and the transition to attack is on a high tempo with very good movements and with very good players.
"But the goalkeeper makes a difference. [Petr] Cech is a big goalkeeper for Arsenal and I think that makes them defensively stronger than Arsenal was and also that they a little bit more drop back than they usually do.
"That makes the team a little bit more stronger defensive wise and in my opinion it's more difficult."
Arsenal were woeful in that match on New Year's Day, with Wojciech Szczesny seeing his career at the club go down the wayside after a poor performance and a smoke alarm. With Cech in goal, though, Arsenal, as Koeman said, do look a lot more secure, and Arsene Wenger's men have shown they are capable of getting the right results, even when they are without several key players.
The likes of Santi Cazorla, Alexis Sanchez, Jack Wilshere, Francis Coquelin, Mikel Arteta, Tomas Rosicky and Danny Welbeck are still on the treatment table, but Wenger and his team will be encouraged by the outstanding performance against Manchester City on Monday.
In that match, barring the last 10 minutes, Arsenal looked in control the moment they scored the first goal, and if they put in another all-round performance, with Mesut Ozil adding to his ridiculous collection of assists, another positive result should come their way.
"It was an important win for us but we already had a good confidence level," Wenger said of the 2-1 win over Manchester City. "To win these sorts of game you need to believe you can do it.
"Overall what came out of the game was a strong team attitude and strong team effort. Everybody put hard work into the game -- we got a positive result against a strong team who will fight for the championship, so it was an important night for us.
"I believe for us, the most important is to focus on ourselves. We have not to speculate too much on any weakness of Southampton. When you look at their team, they have the potential to be a very strong team. We have to convince ourselves that we again need another top-level performance."
Where to Watch Live
Get the match highlights HERE
Southampton vs Arsenal is set to begin at 7.45 pm GMT (1.15 am IST, 2.45 pm ET).
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