Arsene Wenger’s side have moved to the top of the league table, but their advantage over Manchester City, who play on Sunday, is just one point
Browsing: Mesut Ozil
Ozil, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Saturday, got the better of Fernandez at the back post and ferociously volleyed into the roof of the net from an Alexis Sanchez cross
The German World Cup winner has been in negotiations with the Gunners in recent weeks about extending his current deal, which expires in 2018
Arsenal are now unbeaten in their last seven Premier League away games and continue their 100 per cent record against Watford in the Premier League to move onto four points from their three outings this season
Incredibly, Simeone Zaza, Muller, Ozil, Pelle, Bonucci and Schweinsteiger all missed in the shootout, but the vital miss came from Matteo Darmian at 5-5 and it was Jonas Hector that stepped forward to win it for the world champions
The match took a while to get going in the first half, with Alexis Sanchez firing a volley off target with the only real sight of goal in the opening stages, but it soon came to life as Arsenal struck twice in as many minutes to take control of the contest
Arsenal started slowly and Southampton were the first to threaten inside three minutes when James Ward-Prowse’s deep free kick had to be tipped wide by Petr Cech
The Arsenal playmaker lost the crown he had won three times in a row to Toni Kroos in 2014, but has reclaimed the award following a sensational return to form
The opening 25 minutes of the contest went by with little incident as Bournemouth largely frustrated the hosts and in fact were the more threatening of the two sides
The hosts scored the equaliser two minutes later, as Grabban outmuscled substitute Gabriel Paulista – who replaced the injured Laurent Koscielny early on – before placing a composed finish into the bottom corner of the net
The Gunners needed to win the match and hope that Bayern Munich claimed success in the night’s other Group F tie against Olympiacos
Ighalo netted three times in October, twice in the win over West Ham United a fortnight ago, as well as grabbing the equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth at the beginning of the month
The Nigerian would slug it out with other top contenders like Olivier Giroud, Mesut Ozil, Jamie Vardy, Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Butland
The visitors started the game positively, as Nacho Monreal fired wide from inside the penalty area, before Campbell fired over the bar from distance
Arsene Wenger insisted before the match that his side were capable of beating Bayern and the hosts had the best chances early on, with Mesut Ozil being denied by his compatriot, Manuel Neuer
Hornets top scorer, Odion Ighalo, was then put through on goal just before the break, but the Nigerian scuffed a tame shot into the grateful arms of Cech
The deadlock was broken by the visitors just after the quarter-hour mark when Mesut Ozil’s cross from the left was acrobatically netted by Olivier Giroud from 16 yards out
Ozil missed over 12 weeks of action through injury earlier this season, but the German international discovered his best form last month during an unbeaten spell for the Gunners
If this fixture had been a boxing match, it would have been stopped to save the visitors from further punishment
A single first half goal from Alexis Sánchez was enough for the Gunners to take victory after they were held to a goalless draw in the reverse fixture in Istanbul last week