Good afternoon and welcome to our LIVE coverage of Arsenal's match against Southampton at The Emirates.

Arsenal having the better of this one at the moment but the Saints continue to press well.

We have a slight hiatus for the physio to come on.

Some intricate passing culminates in a blocked shot from Wilshere but it looks as though Hooiveld is in trouble - he goes down clutching his hamstring.

Incredible. What an escape - Giroud finds Wilshere inside the box and in the left channel and he lifts the ball over Boruc and has to watch on agonisingly as it comes back off the post.

Rickie Lambert makes his 50th PL appearance (all for Southampton). He has netted 19 goals in the division.

Arsène Wenger takes charge of his 650th PL match – he has won 376, drawn 161, and lost 112.

Gibbs leads a break forward and the ball breaks to Wilshere but his effort is blocked by Shaw on the edge.

The big man Giroud looks like he will be okay to play on.

Cazorla strays offside – he was only six or so yards inside the Southampton half there though, which is a measure of how high Southampton’s line is.

Giroud has pulled up after a coming-together and there is concern around a half-empty Emirates.

A pretty sedate start to this one here.

A two-goal win for the visitors will see them top of the league tonight - incredible.

And we are off!!

The players are out and exchanging handshakes.

The ground is still looking empty here but we will be underway in ten or so.

We'll be off and running in fifteen minutes - the Saints can go top with a two-goal win.

Arsenal have the luxury of knowing that even a draw today would leave them top of the league: Liverpool have just been held 3-3 by Everton in a thumping Merseyside derby.

DELAY TO KICK OFF: Referee Mark Clattenburg has reportedly decided to put kick-off back to quarter past three after problems on the Tube delayed many fans.

But Southampton have conceded just eight goals in their last 14 Premier League games and have never conceded more than once in a match during this run.

The stats back the Gunners today, overwhelmingly: Arsenal have not lost a home league game against Southampton since November 1987, winning 13 and drawing five of their 18 matches since.

Mauricio Pochettino has done everything he can to play down the importance of today's game against the leaders: "Even if we won at Arsenal, nothing would change in the way we work. We would believe in what we have believed in so far. We have been tested already. Arsenal and Chelsea won’t be any different for us from that."