Arsenal Vs Bournemouth: Recap, Highlights And Analysis

On Tuesday, Arsenal travelled to the South coast to face Bournemouth. Here’s the full recap, all the highlights and analysis from the 3-3 draw.

What a frustrating performance. Arsene Wenger made a couple of changes for the second game in a little over 48 hours, most notably, reinstating Aaron Ramsey and Shkodran Mustafi in the starting lineup. The first half was utterly dire, with Arsenal lacking any intensity in possession, failing to deal with the pace of Bournemouth in attacking areas.

Then, in a sudden change, Wenger’s men became a different team. Ramsey started to pull the strings, Alexis Sanchez took the game by the scruff of the neck and Olivier Giroud began to dominate as many expected him to before kick off. However, while it was a miraculous comeback from three goals down, it must still be considered two points dropped, and not one point gained.

The first half started in rather uncomfortable fashion. With Alex Iwobi shifted wide to accommodate the inclusion of Aaron Ramsey in the traditional number 10 role, Arsenal looked well off the pace, repeatedly losing possession cheaply, failing to deal with the energetic, effervescent Cherries.

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The breakthrough did indeed come from the home side. With neither Ramsey nor Iwobi seemingly aware of their defensive duties, attacking left-back Charlie Daniels was left in acres of space as Hector Bellerin tucked inside far too much. The ball was switched to Daniels who, with great calmness, cut inside the hapless challenge of Bellerin and finished well past the onrushing Petr Cech.

If that was bad, then it soon got much worse for the Gunners. Granit Xhaka played a simple pass to the feet of Francis Coquelin with the Frenchman immediately under pressure. Bournemouth broke through Calum Wilson and, after playing in Ryan Fraser, saw his teammate tripped under the attention of the aforementioned Xhaka. It was dreadfully poor play from the £35 million man and yet again underlines his defensive difficulties. Wilson duly stepped up and converted the penalty, putting Bournemouth two goals into the ascendancy with just 20 minutes played.

The remainder of the half continued in depressing fashion. Bournemouth dominated much of the game, with their pace in attacking areas causing Arsenal problems. Ramsey, who had dropped into a deeper position with Coquelin leaving with an injury, failed to control the game while the hapless Xhaka was unable to keep the ball with any semblance of regularity. Half-time came and Arsenal were desperate for a spark.

The spark never came.

While Wenger’s side did enjoy the greater share of possession early in the second half, little came of it, and it wasn’t long until they found themselves three goals down. Just after Harry Arter had a deflected shot off the hands of Calum Wilson disallowed, it was Fraser who twisted the knife. Daniels, who was a threat throughout down the left-hand side, played in his winger behind Bellerin, another who had a torrid time. Fraser, with a suggestion of a nudge in the back, won the ball of Bellerin, cut inside and cutely poked the ball through the legs of Cech at the near post.

The third goal seemingly ended the game. Or that was until Alexis Sanchez popped up. This time playing on the left, floating in towards the back post, as Olivier Giroud made his physical presence known, flicking a header towards goal, Sanchez darted on the end of it and, with a sharp, diving header, slotted past Artur Boruc to give the Gunners a glimmer of hope.

The glimmer then quickly turned into a gleam. Xhaka fired a pass into the feet of Giroud. The Frenchman flicked it wide, over the top of the Bournemouth defence, seemingly sending intended target Lucas Perez too far wide from goal. However, the Spaniard had other ideas who, channelling his inner Marvo Van Basten, fired a tremendous left-foot volley across goal and into the far corner.

Then, the gleam was a full-on bathing of light. Olivier Giroud, in a fashion that he has done all season long, rose highest from Granit Xhaka’s deep cross, held off the challenge of the Bournemouth defender and stooped to flick a header past Boruc and into the bottom corner.

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The 92nd equaliser was a welcome relief from what was a terrible performance, especially in the first half, but to consider this a success is shortsighted and naive. Arsenal, if they harbour any realistic title aspirations, must win these games, not rescue a late draw.