Arsenal bounced back from two successive defeats to claim a 2-0 victory over Southampton.

Mikel Arteta made a number of changes from Saturday's loss to Brighton, with Matteo Guendouzi dropped from the squad completely.

Eddie Nketiah replaced Alexandre Lacazette and rewarded Arteta with a goal after 20 minutes.

The 21-year-old closed down Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy and blocked his attempted pass to set up an easy tap-in.

Saints did push for an equaliser and came close through Shane Long with 15 minutes remaining, but he was denied by Emiliano Martinez with a brilliant save.

Jack Stephens tripped Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to cop a red-card and Willock scored from the resulting free-kick, firing from close range after Alexandre Lacazette's effort.

Speaking after the match, Mikel Arteta said: "We had two very difficult weeks with a lot of things that happened to us.

"I was concerned because after the defeat at Brighton where we threw the game away, it really touched the team.

"Confidence is everything in this game and we have to lift them up, but I could see yesterday that the reaction was really positive and they were really at it.

"We just demanded for them to play together, to enjoy competing with each other and defending each other as much as possible - then we would be fine. It was an important win for us."