MIKEL Arteta says he is well aware of "where the danger is" with Saints' side, having suffered a "painful" defeat at St Mary's last season.

With the Gunners chasing a Champions League spot in April, they faced a Saints side winless in six and on the back of a 6-0 home defeat by Chelsea.

But Ralph Hasenhuttl's men dug in, despite being on the back foot for much of the contest, and came away with a shock 1-0 victory.

Goalkeeper Fraser Forster was the standout performer, with Jan Bednarek bagging the only goal.

Arsenal went on to miss out on fourth place by two points.

The two sides go head-to-head again on Sunday (2pm).

Asked if he feels the Gunners have a score to settle with Saints after that defeat last season, boss Arteta said: "Well, obviously there was an experience that was painful, especially with the way the game turned out and the consequences of it.

"We know where the danger is with their team."

Saints have won just three of their 17 Premier League fixtures since that day in April, although the last of those came on Wednesday night at Bournemouth.

Quizzed on if this was a good time to play Hasenhuttl's side, Arteta replied: "I don’t have an idea. I don’t know, I’m not in the dressing room or in their thoughts.

"We have experienced some really tough matches against them and I expect a difficult game again."

Arteta has only come up against two managers more often in his career so far than Hasenhuttl, in Jurgen Klopp and Brendan Rodgers.

In six meetings with the Austrian, Arteta's Gunners have come out on the winning side three times, drawing once and losing twice.

Asked why he feels Arsenal have struggled at times against Saints, Arteta said: "Well, it’s difficult as we have a day to prepare for the game.

"We have watched certain games, but we haven’t finalised all of the preparation.

"Against us they have played in various ways. We know what we can expect from them, but we don’t have certainty over how they will start the game."

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