BOURNEMOUTH — On a pleasant fall day on the South Coast there was nothing nice about a trip to Bournemouth for Arsenal as Mikel Arteta’s side were reduced to 10 players and the title contenders suffered a shock defeat, their first of the Premier League season.
[ MORE: Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal as it happened, video highlights ]
It was also Arsenal’s first away Premier League defeat since December 31, 2023 and first league defeat since April 14, 2024.
After William Saliba was sent off in the first half for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, Ryan Christie slammed home a clever corner-kick routine and Justin Kluivert scored a penalty kick in the second half to give the Cherries a famous victory.
[ MORE: Declan Rice, Mikel Arteta on Arsenal’s red cards ]
Andoni Iraola got the better of his close friend Mikel Arteta in dramatic fashion as Arsenal’s fans lamented the officials and VAR throughout, but it was the Bournemouth fans you could hear loudest in the clear Dorset sky long after the final whistle blew.
Here’s a look at what we learned from Bournemouth’s shock win vs Arsenal.
Saliba red card call unfortunate, but correct
For the third time in the opening eight games of this season Arsenal were reduced to 10 players in controversial fashion. After Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard had been sent off against Brighton and Man City, Arsenal coughed up leads and drew both games. This time they lost and Saliba being sent off after a VAR review was unfortunate but it was clearly the correct call. After initially booking Saliba, VAR asked referee Robert Jones to go to the monitor. The evidence was damning for Saliba. Trossard’s overhit pass back towards his own goal played Evanilson clean through and put Saliba in a very unlucky position. With David Raya running back to his own goal and Ben White not in a position to get around on the cover easily, Saliba made the split-second decision to pull back Evanilson. It was a clear denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity. It all happened quickly but it had to be a red card as Evanilson would have been able to run at goal and have an effort. Saliba will now miss Arsenal’s huge home game against Liverpool next weekend and although Arsenal’s fans were far from happy in the away end (chanting ‘cheats, cheats, cheats’ and singling out head of the PGMOL Howard Webb for criticism), they can have no complaints about this decision.
Raya’s shaky outing spreads in Arsenal’s rare defensive off-day
From giving the ball away cheaply to flapping at crosses, misplaced long passes, spilling shots, missing his kick on a clearance and then bringing down Evanilson to give away a penalty kick, David Raya looked flustered throughout. Bournemouth put pressure on Raya and the Spanish goalkeeper, who has been so key in big moments this season, did not cover himself in glory. That uneasiness seemed to spread throughout Arsenal’s defense as Kiwior made a poor error which led to Bournemouth’s penalty kick, switched off from a corner kick, the usually unflappable Ben White couldn’t handle Semenyo and Outarra and there was general panic before and after Saliba was sent off. This was a very un-Arsenal display. With injuries piling up and Arsenal now struggling for confidence in the one area, defense, which has been so important for them over the last 12 months, Arteta will want to see a massive reaction from his side against Shakhtar in midweek and Liverpool next weekend. It’s tough to put the blame on one player and Raya has been superb for most of this season but his off-day set the tone for the defensive unit in front of him.
Bournemouth finally finish their chances
Andoni Iraola has done a fine job at Bournemouth and their points tally this season does not reflect how well they’ve played. So often they’ve dominated games but couldn’t find the finishing touch but they plugged away and one moment of clever set-piece planning and brilliant execution won them the game. The margins are so small in the Premier League and Bournemouth have Semenyo, Evanilson and Co. causing problems regularly and this win will give them huge confidence they can kick on and maybe even push for European qualification this season. That is the long-stated aim of American owner Bill Foley and with their new training ground close to completion, clever spending in the transfer market and a manager on his way up, the Cherries aren’t finished plucking points off the big boys this season.
