London: A last-gasp strike by Reiss Nelson brought a dramatic end to Arsenal’s remarkable 3-2 win over Bournemouth. The Gunners hit back from two-nil down after Bournemouth had taken the lead within ten seconds of the start, the second fastest goal scored in the Premier League.
An ecstatic Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta said of his team’s late winner: “When that goal went in it was just crazy. I lost sight of where I was and didn’t know where I was running to. But just looking in the faces of everybody, the players and the supporters with those smiles, the joy in their eyes, it’s just great.”
He added: “It was an extraordinary day, a beautiful experience at the end. Very dramatic, but worth living it, because it was a great end. Everybody was overwhelmed. It was madness from the first 10 seconds of the game and we had to climb a mountain against 10 players behind the ball.
“Suddenly we were 2-0 down and after that it’s don’t lose the shape, don’t lose the discipline, do the simple things right, score the first goal and we did that. We showed a lot of maturity and resilience to do that and when we’ve done that the atmosphere of the place changed the energy.”
Bournemouth’s early lead came after a mistake by Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes, who failed to stop the ball in the box and allowed Philip Billing to easily score. Thereafter, Arsenal dominated the first half with 85 per cent of possession.
But the visitors kept the lead at half-time although Arsenal felt they should have had a penalty when, in the 34th minute, Chris Mepham went for a header but missed and the ball fell on his arm.
After the break, in the 57th minute they extended the lead when Marco Senesi moved away from Thomas Partey to meet Joe Rothwell’s corner and put in a firm header.
Arsenal seemed to recover quickly from the shock of 2-0 down and scored twice within the next 13 minutes. First, Partey scored at the far post with a fine volley after Neto’s punch had not been cleared and Emile Smith Rowe headed the ball back into the six yard box.
Then came the equaliser. Nelson had come on as substitute and his cross from the left came to Ben White who scored his first goal for the club which was checked to see the ball had crossed the goal-line.
Finally, just when it seemed that the league leaders would have to settle for just one point from a draw, came the match winning shot just about at the end of the six minutes of added time. Nelson chested down a corner and from just inside the box he unleashed a left-footed shot into the far corner of the net to start wild celebrations.
Bournemouth manager, Gary O’Neil said: “I’m bitterly disappointed, as are the players. Most teams that come here get dispatched easily but we didn’t. No one expected us to come here and trouble them like we did. Everyone is devastated.”
English Premier League results on Saturday:
Arsenal 3 (Partey 62, White 70, Nelson 90+7) Bournemouth 2 (Billing 1, Senesi 57)
Aston Villa 1 (Andersen 27-og) Crystal Palace 0
Brighton 4 (Mac Allister 18-pen, Veltman 52, Mitoma 69, Welbeck 89) West Ham 0
Chelsea 1 (Fofana 53) Leeds 0
Manchester City 2 (Foden 15, Silva 67) Newcastle 0
Southampton 1 (Alcaraz 35) Leicester 0
Wolves 1 (Traore 82) Tottenham 0
English Premier League table after Saturday's matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):
Arsenal 26 20 3 3 59 25 63
Man City 26 18 4 4 66 25 58
Man Utd 24 15 4 5 41 28 49
Tottenham 26 14 3 9 46 36 45
Newcastle 24 10 11 3 35 17 41
Liverpool 24 11 6 7 40 28 39
Fulham 25 11 6 8 36 31 39
Brighton 23 11 5 7 43 29 38
Brentford 23 8 11 4 37 30 35
Chelsea 25 9 7 9 24 25 34
Aston Villa 25 10 4 11 31 38 34
Crystal Palace 25 6 9 10 21 32 27
Wolves 26 7 6 13 19 35 27
Nottm Forest 24 6 7 11 18 42 25
Leicester 25 7 3 15 36 43 24
West Ham 25 6 5 14 23 33 23
Leeds 25 5 7 13 29 40 22
Everton 25 5 6 14 17 36 21
Southampton 25 6 3 16 20 41 21
Bournemouth 25 5 6 14 24 51 21
Note:
-- Top four qualify for Champions League; team in fifth qualifies for the Europa League; sixth-placed team qualifies for the Europa Conference League; bottom three are relegated
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