Arsenal saw off a determined Southampton with a goal from Alexis Sanchez two minutes before the end.

The little Chilean — again the stand-out player for the home side — was on hand to notch his 14th of the season from a clever Aaron Ramsey cutback just when it looked as though the Gunners would be forced to settle for a point.

Arsene Wenger said he felt his side had “deserved” the victory but admitted: “We had to dig deep, we played against a good team.”

Wenger went as far as to suggest Southampton, having endured back-to-back defeats for the first time this season, could yet remain in the top four until May.

Indeed Saints boss Ronald Koeman was upbeat at the final whistle, saying that he was “proud” of his men, who had been “unlucky” in his opinion.

“The first hour we were outstanding,” he said. “But after one hour it was more difficult, we didn’t keep the ball like before.”

Their task was made a good deal harder with the loss of influential defender Toby Alderweireld to a hamstring injury. It meant Southampton had to play out the closing minutes with just 10 men as Koeman had used his three subs.

This was tough on a team who had displayed a keen work rate allied to no little technical ability. Perhaps though their greatest asset is Fraser Forster in goal.

The England international made a string of saves including two outstanding stops from headers, the first from Danny Welbeck and the other from Olivier Giroud.

It was the Frenchman — coming off the bench with 20 minutes remaining — who seemed to spark Arsenal into life. However Sanchez, rightly, will take the plaudits for Arsenal’s rise to sixth spot.