Arsenal 1-0 Southampton

	Arsenal skipper Tony Adams celebrates the winner (CliveMason/Allsport)

Six minutes from time, the old anthem rang around Highbury - 'one nil to the Arsenal'.

After defying the odds for 84 minutes, Glenn Hoddle's Southampton fatally lost concentration at a corner.

As Oleg Luzhny delivered the ball into the penalty area, Patrick Vieira made contact. Hassan Kachloul then missed the ball and unsighted goalkeeper Paul Jones failed to save.

No one could have been more ecstatic than Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. The usually urbane Frenchman had grown increasingly frustrated as his side searched for their first Premiership goal since November 4.

Despite the rotation of their expensively assembled strike force, despite laying almost permanent siege to the Southampton goal, Arsenal seemed destined to concede further ground to Manchester United in the championship.

Until Vieira finally unlocked Southampton. It may have been a scrappy goal, but in the final analysis that will be long forgotten, and yesterday it was celebrated at Highbury as though it was the goal that decided the title.

Typically, Hoddle had devised a tactical plan that was to stifle the game, to make Arsenal claustrophobic in their attacking half of the field.

The manager demanded conviction and commitment - and how his team obliged him.

Wenger opted to start with Sylvain Wiltord and Dennis Bergkamp up front, mindful of the Champions League match with Bayern Munich at Highbury on Tuesday.

Wiltord was for the most part ineffective, while Bergkamp mesmerised as always with his delightful touch and vision. But the Dutchman, too, was ineffective in front of goal.

Wiltord missed a gilt-edged invitation from Bergkamp in the 32nd minute. With only Jones to beat, he struck the ball against the goalkeeper's legs. A minute later, Robert Pires struck a post direct from a corner. Then Bergkamp was also denied by the woodwork.

After the interval, Wenger was not long in introducing Thierry Henry for Wiltord and Kanu for Pires, and as the siege on Southampton's goal intensified, Hoddle's troops finally surrendered to Vieira.