Arsenal: Bournemouth cannot be the paper of the past

Arsenal overcame Bournemouth in comfortable fashion on Saturday. But if they only go and lose to Chelsea next weekend, the Bournemouth win becomes the paper that covers the cracks, very much like similar results of years gone by.

It used to be the case that Arsenal would relish the challenge of the big boys. During the late ’00s, Arsene Wenger’s side would up their game when it really mattered, enjoying the greater space they had as the better sides would be more willing to push a little higher up the pitch. Very much like Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp nowadays, it was in these games that they came alive.

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But that has not been true for some time. It is easy to reel off the batterings that they have endured in recent years. 8-2 to Manchester United; 6-3 to Manchester City; 6-0 to Chelsea; 5-1 to Liverpool; 4-0 to Liverpool just two weeks ago.

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In those earlier years, when they flourished against the better sides, it was the industrious, hard-nosed, bloody battlers that caused them trouble; their slick passing was halted by a combination of meticulous defending, relentless commitment and roaring heart, their creativity blunted; their defending spineless and structureless, exposed and exploited.

Now, however, Arsenal have a surprising talent to bulldoze those lesser sides. While the tricky awat trips to Stoke City and West Brom still catch them out every now and then, for the most part, they have found a way to ensure their football is still effective, even when space is tight and the bus is well and truly parked.

And that is exactly how they responded to the Liverpool loss: Bournemouth were lambs to the slaughter as Arsenal fizzed the ball in and out of midfield, partnering lovely triangles together with cute reverse passes, deep, spraying long-balls and fluid, dynamic movement with a penetrating purpose to engineer angles and opportunities in the final third.

But it is not games like Bournemouth that will test the calibre and the quality of this side; such special acclaim is reserved for only the best the Premier League has to offer, and this being the Premier League, it is not long until another steely-eyed examination stares Arsenal in the face once again.

The trip to Stamford Bridge is one fraught with danger. A stifling defence, a barking coach and a returning Eden Hazard all add to the fear of a demolition. As a normally pessimistic fan who tends to the see worst, or at least has learned to expect the worst thanks to more than a decade of despair and disappointment, I envisage this game going like many other battles against the top teams: not well.

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The win against Bournemouth was undoubtedly important. Although expected, it brought a lease of life, a release from the pressures of losing and a new sense of tentative optimism. But unravel against Chelsea, and the win simply become the paper of the past, the paper that has been used to cover the cracks. If Arsenal aren’t careful, they could see be looking up and out of those cracks, desperate for a shimmer of light.