Bournemouth vs The Arsenal – 2-3 – Player Ratings – Arsenal suffer again, but emerge victorious
The word ‘suffer’ is the operative word here. It’s a word that Mikel Arteta uses quite a lot – ‘we had to suffer for a period..’ etc.
Arsenal had to suffer in different ways this evening against Bournemouth, yet it was ultimately worth it as they took all three points back to North London and established a nice 6 point buffer at the top of the Premier League.
In the early stages, Bournemouth’s ridiculously high press was causing all sorts of problems and winning the ball on multiple occasions in advanced positions, but thankfully they failed to turn those chances into goals. Shortly after spurning those dangerous turnovers, Arsenal started to find a foot hole in the game and then suddenly Bournemouth were gifted the opening goal. Sometimes the term gifted can be used to describe a soft or easy preventable goal going against a team. This was not that. This goal was a late Christmas present from Arsenal to Bournemouth. Under a little bit of pressure, Gabriel inexplicably played the ball to Evanilson in the centre of the Arsenal area and as David Raya had dropped in to give the defender an option, the Bournemouth man had the simplest of tasks and just rolled the ball into the empty net, to give Arsenal a mountain to climb after only 10 minutes.
I’m not about all of you Gooners out there, but I was in full panic mode at this point and could already see the ‘Arsenal bottlers’ headlines in our future and I was therefore very thankful that Arsenal rallied so promptly.
Noni Madueke did brilliantly down the right to get to the byline and force the ball across the Bournemouth 6 yard box and after the first couple of close range efforts were blocked, in strode Gabriel at the back post (in open play!) in true Riccardo Calafiori fashion to lash the ball home and atone for his earlier mistake. Gabriel has a habit of righting his own wrongs by scoring at the right end as shown earlier this season at Newcastle and I think a couple of seasons ago against Fulham at home as well, It just shows the character of the man mountain that is our big number 6 and just like that parity was restored on 16 minutes and things were looking up again.
Arsenal continued to struggle against the Bournemouth press for much of the rest of the first half and I for one wasn’t too sad to here the half time whistle. Mikel Arteta has a way of spotting these little details in football matches that turns a struggling first half performance into a dominant second showing and I was hopeful of the same again here.
Cue Declan Rice. Is there anything this guy can’t do?! Seriously. He’s just unreal.
Arsenal had improved after the break and it was a nice bit of instinctive play from a long David Raya ball that led to Arsenal taking the lead for the first time. After winning the second ball, Arsenal worked the ball to Martin Odegaard on the edge of the Bournemouth area and the Norwegian turned creator once again for Arsenal as he displayed some excellent awareness to lay an inch perfect pass into the path of the onrushing Declan Rice to sweep home into the near post. There was an element of fortune that started the attack, but from that point onwards, it was pure class from two of Arsenal’s top performers right now.
It was amazing to take the lead, but with nearly 40 minutes left to play, you felt that Arsenal needed more to make sure of the points here.
Arteta clearly thought the same as he replaced his entire front line with Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka all introduced with a clear objective – go and finish this game off.
On 71 minutes, it looked like Arsenal had done just that as another beautiful pass from Odegaard set Saka in behind and his inch perfect cut back was swept home gleefully by man of the moment, Declan Rice. It was another lovely goal and for a short while I really believed that we had sewn up on the points and were going to see this one out in a professional manner, keeping Bournemouth at arm’s length until the final whistle.
Unfortunately, this was not the case, as more suffering was due and it came in the form of a second goal for Bournemouth from substitute Junior Kroupi, who crashed home from just outside the area having been given all the time in the world to pick his spot.
At this point I was in full blown panic mode. Looking back, I’m not really sure why, as it was a moment from nowhere and not the result of sustained Bournemouth pressure, so perhaps I should have had more faith in this Arsenal team to see the game out. I suppose the risk of potentially dropping points from a 3-1 scoreline is something that could be really damaging to this team’s confidence however, as it turned out, I don’t remember Bournemouth having a single shot on goal after that second goal. Arsenal cleared a few set pieces and saw out the final 20 minutes with relative ease to make it 7 wins in a row, in all competitions.
This was far from a perfect Arsenal performance however, I really liked how they always looked to play on the front foot and go for more goals. Even when it was 3-2, there was none of the deep defending and passive play that we saw against Wolves, in particular. Arsenal went for the fourth goal with pretty much every attack and that is something I love to see, as that’s always the easiest way to finish off a game – witn another goal. Here’s how the players rated in this one:
David Raya – 7
Left completely exposed on both goals and aside from the odd comfortable save, he wasn’t actually that busy. Played a couple of really lovely passes out from the back though and I thought he was excellent from set pieces, claiming a number of them really comfortably.
Jurrien Timber – 8
Great performance from Jurrien Timber. Looked much more of a threat going forward than in previous games and had a few dangerous forays forward. Solid as ever at the back, winning multiple headers and also dominating his duels.
William Saliba – 7
Solid, no frills performance from Saliba. Dealt with Evanilson with ease and passed it well enough coming out from the back, although I think he could have carried the ball a bit further on occasions. Out of the defenders, I think Saliba probably dealt with the Bournemouth press the best, which I suppose is no surprise, given his zen like calmness on the pitch!
Gabriel – 7
What a mistake, but of what a reaction. Not just with scoring the equaliser, although that was an amazing moment a perfect illustration of the sort of leader Gabriel is, but with his performance in general after that mistake. Let’s face it, that was a horrific mistake, yet he washed it off, carried off and went on to have a really strong performance, both in and out of possession. What a character he is. Was a colossus in the air late on when those Bournemouth set pieces and long balls came in.
Piero Hincapie – 7
Solid showing. Nothing spectacular. Was done by Semenyo once, but largely dealt with Bournemouth’s most dangerous player very well. Not existent in attack and struggled a bit with the Bournemouth pressing.
Martin Zubimendi – 8
Really, really good from the Spaniard tonight. Wasn’t able to get on the ball much in the early stages but he kept going, kept passing and probing and when he eventually did find space, he opened the play up really nicely and started multiple Arsenal attacks. Didn’t get forward as much as in previous games, but that allowed Rice and Odegaard to win the game for Arsenal, so we’ll let him off!
Declan Rice – 9 – PLAYER OF THE MATCH
Utterly sublime. So, so good. Battled for everything in the first half. Found space hard to come by, yet rarely lost the ball and was always looking to push Arsenal forward through the Bournemouth pressure. Came to life in the second half and scored a typical Rice goal, a sweeping finish from the edge of the area, before getting a bit further forward to score his second from close range after a really good run. After that, he went up another gear and decided he was winning this match, even if he had to do it on his own. Won everything, passed brilliantly, just an all round masterclass from the midfielder.
Martin Odegaard – 9
Just pipped by the unbelievable Declan Rice to player of the match. Pressed well as always and was always looking to make that killer pass and ended the game with a lovely assist for Rice’s goal, yet it was his pre-assist that was the real game turner, with a beautifully waited pass to Saka which made both his and Rice’s job so much easier. Looks back to his best. Keep it up!!
Noni Madueke – 7
A good night’s work from the winger. Had is full back on toast early doors and probably should have opened the scoring and then played a massive part in the equaliser as his direct running caused havoc before his cutback was eventually turned home. Worked hard defensively tonight as well. That was probably the toughest shift I’ve seen him put in, as he sprinted back to close down space and nullify several dangerous Bournemouth attacks.
Viktor Gyokeres – 7
Played more of a supporting role tonight as the chances mainly fell to the wide players this evening, but I thought he did it quite well. Link-up play was much, much better than against Villa. Still some work to do, but generally he brought his teammates into the game quite well. One sighter that was blocked behind for a corner and played a key role in the first of Declan Rice’s goals as his strength and perseverance pushed Bournemouth back and basically without his hard work, there is no goal. I’m seeing signs of improvement.
Gabriel Martinelli – 6
Worked hard as always, but I thought he struggled up against Jimenez and when he got into crossing positions, his final ball was a bit lacking tonight.
Subs:
Bukayo Saka – 7 – Was so dangerous every time he got the ball and put the ball on a plate for Rice to score what was the winning goal. Not a bad sub to bring on.
Gabriel Jesus – 6 – Dribbling seemed a little off tonight, but he added a bit more dynamism to the Arsenal attack late on and worked tirelessly to close down space.
Leandro Trossard – 6 – Lost the ball in dangerous areas on a couple of occasions which didn’t help my nerves! Didn’t have much of an impact on the game and actually seems better from the start these days.
Mikel Merino – 6 – Came on late on and did Merino things. Played simple passes to keep us moving and won duel after duel after duel. Top class sub to bring on in a game state like this.
Final note – it didn’t always feel like it at the time, but the suffering was worth it as although Arsenal made hard work of it, they scored three goals and came away from a really tough away fixture with all three points. Liverpool next…COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!