Arsenal FC continued their unbeaten run at Bournemouth. Havertz was among those to benefit from one of AFC’s two suspensions in the 4-0 win.
After the draw in the North London derby – already the Gunners’ second league draw – Mikel Arteta spared numerous regulars for the 1-0 League Cup win over Brentford. In Bournemouth, he rotated back as expected: The Spaniard made a total of seven changes – among others, Ödegaard and Rice moved into midfield alongside Havertz.
Although Arteta’s childhood friend Andoni Iraola’s team – the two Basques played together as children for Antiguoko, a team from San Sebastian – was still waiting for its first win in the league, it did not hide in its own half against the favourites – on the contrary. Bournemouth, who also started with seven new players compared to the 2-0 win against Stoke, pressed high at first.
Saka dusts down with his head
The riskiness of this tactic was illustrated by a scene in the 5th minute. Zinchenko bridged the high run-up with a clever move and suddenly the Gunners had plenty of space – but ultimately White crossed too inaccurately.
The Cherries then stood deeper in the following minutes. Nevertheless, the home side could not prevent the deficit: After a post header by Gabriel Jesus, Saka also dusted off the ball with his head (17th).
Aarons and Christie make lapses
After the goal, Arsenal continued to control the game, but until Aarons’ momentous lapse, they had little chance of scoring: Ödegaard then made the most of a penalty, blamed by the AFC right-back on Nketiah, to make it 2-0 at the break (44th).
Shortly after the restart, Iraola’s eleven immediately gave away the next penalty gift. This time Christie brought down Ödegaard with a completely unnecessary tackle. However, it was not Saka or Ödegaard who took the penalty, but Havertz. From the spot, the recently criticised German international scored his first competitive goal for the Gunners (53rd) – the decider.
White scores the final goal
The visitors then went into administration mode and let their opponents have the ball. But as the Cherries proved why they are one of the weakest offensive departments in the league (only five goals), the home fans were not allowed to celebrate a goal – but the visitors celebrated another goal.
After Gabriel Jesus (86.) and Smith Rowe (90.) had missed the 4:0, White put the ball in the goal with his head after a free kick (90.+3) – it remained at this score, because Neto saved a shot of Smith Rowe (90.+6).
Distance to ManCity reduced
ManCity’s parallel defeat at Wolverhampton (1-2) saw the Gunners close the gap on the Citizens to one point ahead of their head-to-head clash next Sunday (5.30pm). AFC, on the other hand, remain winless and have slipped into a relegation spot.
Before the top game, Arsenal continue in the Champions League on Tuesday with a visit to Lens (9pm). Bournemouth are away to rivals Everton in the league on Saturday (4pm).
