Bournemouth brought Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the season to an end on Saturday. The Gunners had not lost a game in all competitions before the game at the Vitality Stadium.
Arsenal were down to 10 men in the first half after William Saliba was deemed to have denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity. The defender tugged Bournemouth striker Evanilson’s shirt when he was through on goal.
Ryan Christie scored the first goal late in the second half. A well worked corner from the Cherries ended up with Justin Kluivert passing it across the box from a corner for Christie to put it in the top corner.
Just nine minutes later, David Raya brought down Evanilson in the box. Kluivert stepped up and sealed the win for Bournemouth.
Arsenal have been prolific from set pieces this season, but against Bournemouth they were not as dangerous. Andoni Iraola says part of the Cherries’ game plan on Saturday was to find a way around Arsenal’s advantage:
“For us it was an important game after losing the last one against Leicester so we had to recover.
“Today we started very well. There was the red card and from then it was tricky as they are still a threat from set plays, free kicks. But we had the patience and ended the game well
“The advantage they have at set plays is they are taller than us so we had to find another way to make a difference. Today it worked and it was important.
“At the end they decided they are going to attack the same way, obviously conceded more space in behind and we had to take every chance. We benefit from a mistake and got the penalty, but even at 2-0 we had to finish the game”.
Arsenal only had four corner kicks on Saturday and had only six shots in the game. Bournemouth had 13 shots during the match.
AFC Bournemouth v Arsenal FC – Premier League BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 19: Antoine Semenyo of AFC Bournemouth battles with Declan Rice of Arsenal during the Premier League match between AFC Bournemouth and Arsenal FC at Vitality Stadium on October 19, 2024 in Bournemouth, England. Bournemouth Vitality Stadium England United Kingdom Copyright: xVisionhausx 776172945
After a difficult loss to Bournemouth on Saturday, Arsenal need to regroup as they face Liverpool next weekend. The Gunners also have a Champions League game midweek as they host Shakhtar Donetsk.
Before this weekend, Mikel Arteta made it clear that he was unhappy at the team’s failure to keep clean sheets in recent games. The Gunners have now failed to keep a clean sheet in their last four Premier League games after keeping three clean sheets in their first four matches.
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