With one player less for an hour due to the expulsion of William Saliba, Arsenal succumbed on their visit to Bournemouth (2-0), launched towards the middle zone of the table thanks to the slate of his coach, Andoni Iraola, key to knocking down one of the candidates to fight the Premier League al Manchester City y al Liverpool.
The Spanish coach gave a master class in direction. He made his rival uncomfortable from the beginning with suffocating pressure, he was completely right in the changes in the second half (marked their choices, Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert) and he smiled satisfied with his team’s first goal, a strategic work worked on in training with which he opened the scoring in the last part of the match.
Of course, it is also unquestionable that for Arsenal, Saliba’s premature departure from the field of play, marked an even duel until half an hourat which point the Gunner central defender had to leave the field of play. The referee, Robert Jones, and after the VAR call, sent off the French defender for knocking down Evanilson when he was the last player in a clear scoring opportunity.
That action, caused by a disastrous back pass from Leandro Trossard, was decisive for Mikel Arteta’s men, who went from amassing the first goal of the game with some slowness to defending themselves against Bournemouth, quite orderly from the beginning of the crash, very good in pressure and forceful in defense.
And if Arsenal already had it complicated with eleven players due to the good approach of Andoni Iraola, With ten he had to roll up his sleeves to try to get something positive out of the Vitality Stadium. Arteta, who introduced three changes compared to his last duel (White, Mikel Merino and Trossard for Jorginho, Gabriel Jesus and the injured Saka), sacrificed who until that moment was his most insistent player, Raheem Sterling, whom he took off the field game to enter Kiwior.
Sterling, from the right wing, was one of the few Arsenal players who troubled Bournemouth. His was the only occasion before expulsion of Saliba cwith a Vaseline that narrowly missed. Then, already with one less, Mikel Merino found himself with the clearest chance before the break, but the Spanish midfielder missed the mark with a left-footed shot from inside the area that did not find the target.
On the other side, It was Semenyo who revolutionized Bournemouth. On the left side he did tremendous damage when Arsenal had both eleven and ten players. The Ghanaian winger constantly overflowed his side and in the 36th minute he touched the first goal with a shot that David Raya took with a good hand; Later, in another of his attempts, he served a cross that escaped the Arsenal goalkeeper, who reacted in time to save a close-range shot from Tavernier.
Arsenal survived the first quarter of an hour with a man less, but had the entire second half ahead of them. Resisting was the idea and winning a miracle despite the fact that he was forced to try to stay firm in the pulse that he maintains. at the top of the table with Liverpool and Manchester City.
He resisted until minute 70, when ryan christie hit the target to complicate Arsenal’s options after completing a scoreboard play by Iraola: low corner taken by Alex Scott, left behind by Justin Kulivert and spectacular left foot from Christie coming from behind. Iraola celebrated an action worked on in training on the bench.
Christie’s goal came just in time for Bournemouth, who moments before suffered a shock caused by an error by Kepa, who made a rude mistake with a delivery to a rival and which he solved himself by stopping Gabriel Martinelli with a monumental intervention. Within a minute, Christie scored and Bournemouth unleashed a goal shortly after with a converted penalty. by Justin Kluivert, who did not waste another gift from Arsenal: Kiwior gave the ball to Evanilson, who was knocked down by Raya inside the area.
The 2-0 score, with eleven minutes remaining, definitively brought down Mikel Arteta’s team. The expulsion of Saliba was too much for the Gunners, punished by the departure of their central defender and unable to manage an hour with one less man against a team in which Iraola armed himself with reasons to praise his figure after directing with mastery. to his Bournemouth, now tenth in the table. Arsenal, if Liverpool wins their match, could end the day four points behind the lead. Hard setback for Arteta.
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