Bournemouth: With two second-half goals in a space of nine minutes, Bournemouth ended Arsenal’s unbeaten run of seven Premier League matches this season with a 2-nil defeat. It was the Gunner’s second league defeat of 2024 and their first away loss this calendar year.
Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, whose side had to play over an hour of the match with 10 men after the sending-off of William Saliba, said: “We are very disappointed and gutted we had to play in that context again. It was even more difficult than the previous two that we have faced this season. To do it for 65 or 68 minutes with 10 men at this level, it’s just impossible”.
He added: “I cannot fault the team for their effort and their commitment. There was a big moment at 0-0 when we had a one-v-one with the keeper and we don’t score. Then at the other end we do that (foul). We need to play 11 with 11. We got away with it twice (when they salvaged a point) but we have to accept it, move on.”
Just around the half hour came the decisive moment when Saliba was first shown the yellow card for bringing down Evanilson from behind just near the centre circle when a scoring opportunity was developing for Bournemouth. But then VAR got involved and Robert Jones, the referee, brought out the red card.
Bournemouth were a well organised side and put pressure on Arsenal throughout the first half. It was a well designed win although the decisions, fair as they were, did help the win. Arsenal were poor in defence on occasions and their midfield was overrun. They seemed to miss Bukayo Saka who is out with a hamstring injury and Raheem Stirling on the right wing was not as effective.
Bournemouth missed chances to take the lead before the break. Antoine Semenyo and Marcus Tavernier wasted good openings after David Raya, in the Arsenal goal, fumbled while Mikel Merino, for the visitors, shot wide from just ten yards, it was a bad miss for the Gunners. Another chance was missed by them when Gabriel Martinelli shot straight at Kepa Arrizabalaga on a one-on-one situation.
With 20 minutes remaining, Bournemouth went into the lead from a short corner taken by Lewis Cook from which Kluivert gave a short pass to the unmarked substitute Ryan Christie who drove the ball powerfully into the net.
The second goal followed in the 79th minute when Jakub Kiwior lost control of the ball which went to Evanilson who was brought down by Raya when he seemed likely to score and the obvious penalty was converted by Kluivert.
This was Bournemouth’s only second ever Premier League win against Arsenal and first in over six years — since January 2018. Their delighted manager, Andoni Iraola, said: “It was quite a mature win because it is tricky playing against ten. We had to control the game, attack, but don’t lose our minds, as they can be a threat still.”
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