Olivier Giroud climbed off the bench to rescue a point for Arsenal in a draw at Southampton.
The French frontman struck two minutes from the end as Saints just failed to hang on to Charlie Austin's early opener.
Austin had punished Arsenal for a calamitous beginning to the match with his fourth goal in his last three starts.
With just two minutes on the clock the striker collected a loose clearance from Per Mertesacker and fed Dusan Tadic.
Austin timed his run into the area perfectly, taking Tadic's return ball in his stride and lashing it past Petr Cech.
Things could have got worse moments later when Tadic sent Austin through again, with Arsenal's defence nowhere to be seen, but this time Cech blocked the striker's low drive.
And there was more panic in the Gunners ranks with just seven minutes gone as Austin got in behind again, crashing his shot against a post although he was flagged offside.
Arsenal eventually recovered from their woeful start, but they struggled to find a way through a dogged Saints defence until Giroud's late intervention.
Re-cap the match below...
Five talking points
Olivier Giroud came off the bench to rescue a point at St Mary’s to lift Arsenal back above Tottenham in the table.
Arsene Wenger’s side, who lost at home to Manchester United last week, seemed set for a crushing fifth away defeat of the season after Charlie Austin gave the Saints the lead after only 128 seconds after a clever reverse by the brilliant Dusan Tadic.
Austin has now scored four times in four games to help to lift Mauricio Pellegrini’s team up to 10th.
Wenger sent on the cavalry of Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshere and Olivier Giroud after the break and finally saw his side draw level after 87 minutes.
Alexis Sanchez crossed and the Frenchman nodded home his eighth Arsenal goal of the season. Arsenal move up one place to fifth.
Here are five talking points...
GOAL! Southampton 1-1 Arsenal (Giroud)
Arsenal are level!
Sanchez floats the ball in and Giroud glances home with his head!
A seventh goal of the campaign for the Frenchman with just two minutes to go.
1-1!
Arsenal with it all to do
We might only have had one goal in the first period, but it’s been a really entertaining 45 minutes of football.
Southampton could have conceivably been three up in the early stages, with the Arsenal defence struggling to deal with Charlie Austin in particular.
But the Gunners have grown into the game, with Alexandre Lacazette in particular looking threatening. The Frenchman will be disappointed not to have found the net at least once.
That been said, Saints have still looked a threat on the break, and it feels like there are more goals in this for both sides.
1-0 to the hosts at the break.
GOAL! Southampton 1-0 Arsenal (Austin)
What a start for Saints!
It’s taken only two minutes and the hosts have hit the front.
Brilliant from Tadic who runs at Mertesacker before sliding Austin through, emphatic finish from the striker past Cech.
1-0 to Southampton!
Arsenal team
Arsenal: Cech, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Bellerin Ramsey, Xhaka, Kolasinac, Ozil, Sanchez, Lacazette.
Subs: Wilshere, Giroud, Ospina, Iwobi, Welbeck, Maitland-Niles Coquelin.
Southampton team
Southampton: Forster, Stephens, van Dijk, Yoshida, Hojbjerg Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Bertrand, Tadic, Redmond, Austin.
Subs: Hoedt, Davis, McCarthy, Lemina, Boufal, Gabbiadini, Pied.
No title for Arsenal - Wenger
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits it is unrealistic for the Gunners to talk about winning the Premier League title.
After losing at home to rivals Manchester United last weekend Arsenal find themselves in fifth place, 15 points adrift of leaders Manchester City.
Wenger takes his side to Southampton on Sunday looking to bounce back from that loss and on the back of an emphatic 6-0 Europa League victory over BATE Borisov.
It is expected Arsenal’s entire XI will once again rotate as players such as Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud make way for the likes of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Alexandre Lacazette.
Despite his ability to rotate his team between competitions, Wenger has been unable to keep pace with those at the business-end of the Premier League table and the 68-year-old has conceded talk of a first title since 2004 is not on the agenda.
“At the moment we have different worries than the title,” he said. “After such disappointment, you have to think about winning the next game.
“We are too far from the title at the moment to speak about the title. It’s not realistic. Let’s try to win our next game and over a longer distance see if we can come back.”