Arsenal have become the first side in Premier League history to concede a first minute goal on three occasions in the same calendar year.
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Sloppy starts on home soil became something of a familiar theme during the run-in last season with Bournemouth infamously finding the back of the net in just 9.11 seconds.
Arsenal fell further behind in the contest but on that occasion they were able to mount a famous comeback, culminating in Reiss Nelson’s injury-time winner.
More charitable defending allowed Southampton to open the scoring at the Emirates later on in the campaign when the title was still up for grabs as Carlos Alcaraz benefited from a wayward pass from Aaron Ramsdale.
And the Arsenal goalkeeper as partly at fault again on Saturday when he was caught out of position by Pereira, whose astute near post finish completed an unwanted hat-trick for Mikel Arteta’s side.
While Bukayo Saka also shouldered blame for his misdirected backpass, Ramsdale’s positioning was brutally exposed by Pereira much to the annoyance of Martin Keown.
He said: ‘This was something we saw often at the end of last season when Arsenal didn’t take advantage of their lead in the title race.
‘Ramsdale is so far off his line, he does this so often and I’m not sure why, and Pereira shoots into the near post.’
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