SAINT THAT A SHAME!

His cultured feet brought two spectacular goals and his vicious, jabbing forearm a yellow card that might have been red.

On both counts it sounds like Ian Wright, the Jekyll and Hyde striker on the threshhold of becoming Arsenal's greatest ever goal scorer.

But no, it's Dennis Bergkamp, who has always had the polish and sparkle of an Amsterdam diamond in his sophisticated game. Now, though, he's performing with a little bit of the devil that fires Wright towards his place in history.

Bergkamp battled angrily away from shirt-tugging defenders. He whacked one to the ground with a flailing arm.

But, most unforgettably of all, he conjured up a pair of sublime strikes that Wright himself was dreaming about.

Arsenal, second in the table, aren't waiting around for Wright to overtake Cliff Bastin.

Just as well because the burden of being so close turned him into a subdued and untypical observer of the action.

Wright said: "The most important thing is that we won."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger knows it is more complicated than that. He said: "We try to convince Ian and he tries to convince himself that this is so.

"But I do not think this will be possible. Ian has not to be obsessive about it. He was not at his best today." Not that Wenger is worried, with a pair of gems like Bergkamp and his Dutch compatriot, Marc Overmars, who opened the scoring for Arsenal with his first goal for the club.

And, once Wright is through his psychological barrier - maybe at Leicester on Wednesday - Arsenal will have a frightening threesome shooting for the Premiership title.

Saints boss David Jones admitted: "Three quality strikes killed us. That's why Arsenal pay the money they do."

Overmars, the little winger with the old-fashioned short back and sides, is a menacing mix of pace and trickery.

He played a one-two with Wright before darting between two defenders and shooting low into the net in 19 minutes. He shot over an open goal soon after and Neil Maddison punished the miss by equalising with a courageous header.

Arsenal were wrong-footed by a Matthew Oakley cross that struck the boot of defender Steve Bould and reared freakishly across the face of goal.

This turned out to be merely the prelude to a majestic performance by Bergkamp.

He turned a ball off his chest towards the Saints goal from at least 50 yards out and ghosted deep into Saints territory.

His sudden switch of direction outwitted his challengers and he curled a right-footer deliberately beyond keeper Paul Jones into the corner of the net.

Bergkamp's temperament, which always seems so unruffled, suddenly began to flare.

Saints were furious when he floored substitute David Hughes with his outstretched arm.

It's a side to Bergkamp few have glimpsed and, when he wrenched himself clear of some shirt-pulling from Francis Benali, he shot once more into the net with pure fury.

Wenger was not displeased by Bergkamp's aggression. He added: "He is not being nasty, he is being determined."

Arsenal conceded a few late chances but had the match won - thanks to a scenario that turned out Double Dutch for Ian Wright.

SOUTHAMPTON.- Jones 6; Dodd 6, Todd 6, Magilton 6, Monkou 8, Benali 7, Oakley 7 (Hughes 5), Maddison 7, Davies 6, Ostenstad 6 (Johansen 5), Spedding 5.

ARSENAL.- Seaman 6; Winterburn 6, Bould 7, Vieira 8, Grimandi 6, Garde 7, Parlour 7, Petit 6 (Platt 6), Wright 6, BERGKAMP 9, Overmars 8.

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