Arsenal fail to capitalise on Leicester City's loss and remain second in the Premier League table, having taken a severe beating from Arsenal. Another maddening result in this strange season. Unfortunately, that's all we've got time for tonight. I've been Oliver Emmerson, and until next time, goodbye!
Full-time: Southampton 4-0 Arsenal (Martina, Long, Fonte, Long)
90+2: Brilliant from Tadic, who beats his man and sends a superb through ball into Long's path, and he squirms a shot through Cech's legs to make it 4-0. A resounding win for the home side.
GOAL! We do have a fourth goal, and it's Shane Long again!
90: Four minutes of stoppage time, will we have a fourth goal?
89: Long hits the post! Using his pace to break beyon the Arsenal backline once again, the Irishman shirked a challenge and had beaten Cech with his shot, but it crashed back off the post to keep the score at three.
82: Final substitution of the night for the home side, as Mane is replaced by Juanmi.
80: Inches wide! Ozil attacks Monreal's cross from close range and just about beats the 'keeper, but drops wide of the goal.
78: Another Arsenal change, as youngster Iwobi comes on for Walcott.
75: Tadic strikes one from range, it dips and swerves, but Cech is equal to it and pushes it out. It looks more likely that Southampton will score a fourth than Arsenal will get one back, at the moment.
74: Flamini off, Chambers on for Arsenal.
71: Another change for Southampton, as Ward-Prowse goes off for Tadic. That's a positive substitution from Koeman.
69: Great ball in from Ryan Bertrand, and a thumping header from Fonte makes it 3-0 to Southampton. All three points for the home side are now sealed, surely?
Goal! Fonte makes it 3-0 to the hosts!
67: There's that change, Romeu replacing Clasie, who has been excellent tonight.
66: Jordy Clasie down with cramp as Southampton kick the ball out, it looks like he'll have to come off.
60: Half an hour left, is there any way back into this for Arsenal?
55: Great counter-attacking from Southampton, who double their lead! Long takes it with his back to goal, gives it to Mane before darting into the box, recieving the ball back and placing it past Cech with ease.
GOAL! Long makes it 2-0!
54: Ward-Prowse wants a penalty as he takes the ball from Monreal's toes and then goes down under pressure in the area, but it'd have been a soft one were it given.
50: Another goal ruled out! Ward-Prowse's looping ball in from a free-kick was met by Virgil van Dijk, who headed over Cech and into the net, but the flag was up for offside. Correct decision, just about.
45: Kick-off in the second half.
Half-time: Southampton 1-0 Arsenal (Martina)
45: One minute of added time to be played.
43: Brilliant chance, missed! Southampton counter, Mane chips it over the defence and all of a sudden Shane Long is in on goal. He controls well and gets away from Mertesacker, but can only send the ball high over the bar when shooting.
39: Close! Half the ground thought it was in! Walcott again going for goal, unmarked from a corner, but his header flies into the side netting.
37: Walcott bursts past a couple of men to get into the area, but he's eventually put under pressure and has a stifled shot easily saved.
34: Shane Long booked for backheeling the ball into the net after the referee had blown for a foul on Mertesacker. Or was it for the foul on Mertesacker? A mixture of the two? I suppose we'll never know.
25: Ward-Prowse wriggles free to get some room on the edge of the area, but can only shoot wide. Meanwhile, Shane Long is unhappy with the referee after feeling he was pushed in the back by Koscielny.
19: That is a stupendously good strike from Martina, making his first start of the season. Mertesacker's header out from a ball in was met by the right-back, who sent a curling effort right into the corner with the outside of his right boot. Absolutely amazing, and Southampton are ahead!
WHAT A GOAL! MARTINA MAKES IT 1-0!
18: Stekelenburg forced into a save, as Monreal races on to Giroud's knockdown, but he can only divert a shot straight at the goalkeeper.
15: Arsenal don't do anything from the corner, but the game is picking up now, as Saints go down the other end and force Mertesacker to clear with an excellent defensive header.
14: Fantastic pass from Ramsey finds Monreal in the penalty area, but the Spaniard's cross is deflected out for a corner.
10: Little to show for either side so far, with both happy to knock the ball around amongst themselves. Not much penetration on show as of yet.
2: Giroud wins an early corner, wins the header from it, but it's over the bar.
0: Kick-off.
The players are out on the pitch and shaking hands, we're almost ready to go.
Just five minutes to go now until the game gets underway, let's have some predictions. As desperate as Southampton are to get a result, you can't look past the in-form Gunners. Southampton 0-2 Arsenal, for me. What do you think? Send your predictions into @VAVEL on Twitter!
There's added incentive for Arsenal to win this one, as they can go top of the table due to Leicester City's loss against Liverpool earlier today. However, they will be feeling the pressure, as Manchester City's 4-1 win over Sunderland brought the Citizens back within one point of the Gunners.
The Southampton manager has revealed that Pelle is out injured with a knee problem, whilst Cedric Soares is also not included due to injury.
Quite different ends of the spectrum, as an unchanged Arsenal face a Southampton side with four changes from their defeat to Tottenham. Ronald Koeman has shaken things up, with the biggest chance being that there is no Graziano Pelle involved, with Shane Long leading the line tonight.
Arsenal substitutes: Ospina, Reine-Adelaide, Chambers, Gibbs, Gabriel, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi.
Southampton substitutes: Gazzaniga, Yoshida, Caulker, Romeu, Ramirez, Tadic, Juanmi.
Arsenal XI: Cech, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Ramsey, Walcott, Ozil, Campbell, Giroud.
Southampton XI: Stekelenburg, Martina, Fonte, Van Dijk, Bertrand, Wanyama, Clasie, Ward-Prowse, Mane, Davis, Long.
Here we go, we've got some confirmed team news!
Mane's goal in that fixture was his last before departing to play in the African Cup of Nations, which did hamper the Saints' season. He may well be a key man today, posessing the quality needed to unlock Arsenal's defence. For the visitors, Mesut Ozil will be hoping to pull the strings, as he goes in search of Thierry Henry's assists record.
It's been almost a whole year since these two sides last met, with their most recent fixture coming on New Year's Day 2015. Fourth in the table at that point, Southampton continued their impressive season by registering a 2-0 home win. Saido Mane and Dusan Tadic scored either side of half time to secure all three points, on a day where Arsenal 'keeper Wojciech Szczesny was at blame for each goal. They'll feel much safer at the back today, due to having Petr Cech between the sticks following his summer transfer.
Their last win was the biggest of them all, as they beat Manchester City 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium on Monday. Dominating an entertaining game for large periods, first half goals from Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud had put the Gunners into a deserving 2-0 lead. The Citizens did fight back late on, pulling a goal back through Yaya Toure, but Wenger's men hung on to leapfrog Manuel Pellegrini's side in the table.
In reverse, things couldn't be going much better for Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, who haven't lost in their last six games - winning five. Shooting up to second in the table, the Gunners are also through to the Champions League last 16, and could end 2015 top of the Premier League table.
The loss against Tottenham is the most recent in that run, as they slipped to a 0-2 home defeat against the Lilywhites last weekend. Harry Kane and Dele Alli were on the scoresheet, with some suspect defending allowing the former to make it 1-0 before half-time. Will we see a defensive shake up from Koeman today, in light of that poor performance?
Having not won in six games, Southampton are in real danger of slipping down the table into a relegation battle, something which manager Ronald Koeman has admitted to being worried about. Their last victory was away at Sunderland in early November, and they've been on the end of defeats to Stoke City, Manchester City, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur in that time, only picking up any points in a 1-1 draw at home to bottom of the table Aston Villa.
The final match in this Boxing Day schedule is set to be an extremely interesting one, with Southampton needing a win to get over their recent poor form, whilst Arsenal are hoping to continue their title challenge by taking all three points.
Hello and welcome to our live minute-by-minute commentary of this evening's Premier League game, between Southampton and Arsenal. This Boxing Day clash is set to get underway at 19:45 BST, but stick with us until then, as we get the confirmed team news and build up to the game.
