Southampton 1-1 Arsenal: Olivier Giroud saves Gunners with late equaliser as Alexandre Lacazette is upstaged by sub after Charlie Austin's opener

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All hail the big man with the beard who thrives in the wintry chill and always seems to deliver.

At Southampton it is Charlie Austin, who scored his fourth goal in a fortnight to prove he is back in the groove and able to propel his team away from relegation trouble.

At Arsenal it is Olivier Giroud, who climbed off the bench to rescue a point for Arsene Wenger's team in the final minutes and equal a super-sub goal record held by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Super-sub Oliver Giroud came off the bench to earn Arsenal a 1-1 draw with Southampton at St Mary's Stadium on Sunday

Giroud produced a flicked header to deflect an 88th-minute Alexis Sanchez cross into the net when a leveller looked unlikely

The 31-year-old has not started a Premier League game all season but he's now scored seven goals in all competitions

Southampton began the game brightly and were ahead inside the opening three minutes when Charlie Austin poked home

Austin beat Gunners goalkeeper Petr Cech with a smart finish after a brilliant reverse pass from Saints midfielder Dusan Tadic

MATCH FACTS, PLAYER RATINGS AND LEAGUE TABLE

SOUTHAMPTON (3-4-2-1): Forster 6.5; Stephens 7, Yoshida 6.5, Van Dijk 7; Ward-Prowse 6, Romeu 6.5, Hojbjerg 6, Bertrand 7; Tadic 6 (Davis 89), Redmond 6 (Boufal 74, 5); Austin 7.5 (Gabbiadini 86)

GOAL: Austin 3

BOOKINGS: Stephens, Romeu

SUBS: McCarthy, Pied, Hoedt, Lemina.

MANAGER: Mauricio Pellegrino 6.5

ARSENAL (3-4-2-1): Cech 6; Koscielny 6.5, Mertesacker 5 (Welbeck 64, 5), Monreal 6; Bellerin 6, Ramsey 6.5, Xhaka 5 (Wilshere 69, 6.5), Kolasinac 6; Ozil 6, Sanchez 7; Lacazette 6 (Giroud 72, 7)

GOAL: Giroud 88

BOOKINGS: Bellerin, Wilshere.

SUBS: Ospina, Coquelin, Maitland-Niles, Iwobi

MANAGER: Arsene Wenger 6.5

REF: Bobby Madley 6

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Southampton struck early as Dusan Tadic punished a Per Mertesacker error before playing a great pass to scorer Charlie Austin

Alexandre Lacazette spent most of the game in and around the Southampton penalty area but registered just one shot on target before being replaced on 72 minutes

For more stats and maps check out Sportsmail's brilliant Match Zone. 

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His classic header, springing above Maya Yoshida to glance a cross by Alexis Sanchez past Fraser Forster, was Giroud's 17th Premier League goal as a substitute for Arsenal.

The same number was scored by Solskjaer, coming on for Manchester United, and no player has more for one club.

More crucially, Giroud salvaged a point, ensured Arsenal would avoid back-to-back defeats in the league and reminded his manager of the value of his aerial presence.

'He is important and why should we lose an important player?' said Wenger when asked if Giroud might head for the exit when the transfer market opens next month.

Everton and West Ham are interested having failed to sign him in the summer and the France international wants regular football to secure a place at the World Cup.

After scoring his fourth goal in as many games, in-form striker Austin celebrated with Southampton winger Nathan Redmond

Saints and England left back Ryan Bertrand then joined Redmond in congratulating 26-year-old goalscorer Austin

Southampton bossed the first 15 minutes and came close to doubling their lead through former QPR frontman Austin

Austin saw a good chance saved by Cech before striking the post moments later, although he had been in an offside position

Arsenal eventually grew into the game, started to dominate possession and created an opportunity for Alexandre Lacazette

'He will start games because we play every three days,' Wenger added. 'It is always the same, when you have many good players some of them cannot play. Simple as that.

'He is mentally very strong and we have to be grateful to a player who comes on when he is needed. It is a remarkable achievement.'

Arsenal spent almost the entire second half inside Southampton territory and yet barely tested goalkeeper Forster.

At the same time, they were vulnerable on the counter-attack and Saints boss Mauricio Pellegrino was left to rue missed opportunities to secure the victory.

'We had five or six clear chances and that's not easy against Arsenal,' said Pellegrino. 'We didn't control the ball but we controlled the game against a team of great quality and created more clear chances.'

Lacazette fired his shot high over the crossbar under pressure from defender Maya Yoshida, who upended the Frenchman

Arsenal's players appealed for a penalty to be given against Yoshida but referee Bobby Madley awarded a Saints goal kick

The Gunners continued to have the lion's share of the ball but Southampton almost made it 2-0 when Oriol Romeu hit the bar

Southampton crafted another chance moments later when Tadic played in Bertrand, who missed a one-on-one with Cech

Saints keeper Fraser Forster was under-worked at the other end as Arsenal failed to convert possession into shots on target

Oriol Romeu struck the bar with a fierce 25-yarder and Ryan Bertrand went close but Southampton could not add to a third-minute strike by Austin which defined the careless nature of Arsenal's opening phase of play.

Per Mertesacker, deputising for Shkodran Mustafi, clubbed an attempted clearance to Austin who traded passes with Dusan Tadic, timed his run to perfection to collect the return and produced a clinical finish.

A flick with the outside of his right boot lifted the ball over Petr Cech as the goalkeeper dashed from his line.

Two minutes later and Tadic released Austin again and this time Cech saved.

Another effort from Austin hit a post and, although the flag was up for offside, the ease with which Arsenal were sliced open was striking.

Striker Lacazette failed to complete another full game as he was replaced by fellow Frenchman Giroud after 72 minutes

It took Giroud a quarter of an hour to make a telling touch which gave him his fourth Premier League goal of the campaign

Giroud, who has been linked with a possible January exit from Arsenal, looked delighted as he punched the air in celebration

Wenger claimed the memory of defeat against Manchester United in their previous Premier League outing had been to blame for such a poor start at St Mary's.

The visitors gradually exerted more control and totally dominated possession after the interval with Alexis Sanchez becoming influential.

Aaron Ramsey forced a fine save from Forster moments before half-time and Wenger called for a penalty when Alex Lacazette was cut down by a reckless Yoshida slide a split-second after flashing a shot over the bar.

The Arsenal boss also grumbled about the time-wasting of Pellegrino's team, just as Pep Guardiola did when his Manchester City struggled to break Saints down last month.

'I'm frustrated because in the second half there was a lot of time-wasting,' said Wenger. 'This has become a real problem in England in the last two seasons.

'It has to be in the heads of the players to respect the game and to play. And, then, it is up to the referees to act. The answer is in the authority of the referee. They have it in their power.' 

Managers Mauricio Pellegrino (left) and Arsene Wenger walked towards the tunnel together after the final whistle had blown

Meanwhile, Gunners goalkeeper Cech shared a hug with a supporter once the match had finished on the south coast

Arsenal have won only two of eight away games in the Premier League this season and have scored only nine, five of them on one day at Everton in October.

Problems on the road are proving costly and Wenger tinkered from the touchline in search of a solution.

On went Danny Welbeck to replace Mertesacker and Arsenal switched a back-three for a back-four. On went Jack Wilshere in the hope his vision and energy might engineer a route through congested defence.

Ultimately, it was Giroud who made the difference in the 88th minute with a simple goal, a timely antidote to the intricate pattern of passes and flicks and feints which were getting nowhere.

He pointed to the name across the shoulders of his shirt and the travelling fans sang his song.

'I'm not happy with the point because I wanted three, but if you cannot win it, don't lose it and we kept going,' said Wenger.