Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said that he hopes home advantage will come into play when the Gunners host Southampton in the Premier League on Tuesday (2 February). Arsenal are third in the league, three points behind leaders Leicester City after 23 games, and Wenger does not want a repeat of the performance his side put in on Boxing Day when theylost 4-0 at St. Mary's.

"They gave us a tough time, a rough time as well at Southampton and we have an opportunity at home to put that right," Wenger told journalists, adding that every game is now vital in the most open title race for years. "It's a very important period in the season now because it goes into big big games, 15 games to go, every game now becomes really important."

Despite Arsenal having had two draws, away against Stoke City and Liverpool, and a home defeat to Chelsea in their last three games, Wenger said he thinks his side are playing well.

"I don't feel that recently we have really struggled because we had two difficult away games with Stoke and Liverpool where we didn't lose. We had a bad result against Chelsea and of course if we put the three results together it looks struggling, but overall I think the Chelsea result is a bit under special circumstances. On Saturday we had quite a good performance, so let's see. You always go through periods unfortunately where results are not as good as you would expect."