London, May 08: Three days after losing the League Championship to Manchester United, Arsenal took it out on Southampton yesterday, Robert Pires and Jermaine Pennant each scoring hat-tricks in a 6-1 crushing of the team the gunners are to meet in the FA Cup final.
Arsene Wenger's team raced into a 5-0 lead in the first 25 minutes at Highbury to give the Saints a taste of what they will get when the two clubs meet at the Millennium stadium May 17.
"This does give the players some regrets as they feel that, had they won the game against Leeds (which they lost 3-2), we would be champions on Sunday night.
"We have done a lot for our goal difference tonight and I'm convinced that had we beaten Leeds, we would have won the championship.
"This was a little illustration of our season. The team were very creative, very positive and played some fantastic football," Wenger said.



"But we also lacked a bit of security defensively and that's what we want to improve next season."



Saints manager Gordon Strachan was horrified by the way his midfield and defense allowed Arsenal so much room.



"I've never witnessed goals like that in my life, with quite literally no tackling on that pitch whatsoever," he said.



"That needs to get sorted out, which we think that we can, but once we went 2-0 down, the players went into shock."



Pires hit the first after nine minutes by firing home after Saints goalkeeper Paul Jones had blocked a shot from Ray Parlour.


Bureau Report