Morning all.
What is there to say other than Arsenal were the authors of their downfall yesterday evening. A terrible ball played by Leandro Trossard was read by Evanilson and as he tried to take advantage, William Saliba pulled him back and over. After showing the Frenchman a yellow card, the referee was sent to the pitch side monitor and there was only ever going to be one outcome. Off he went. We can question how the VAR review unfolded all we like but one thing I’m pretty sure of is that had an Arsenal player been brought down in the same fashion, we’d all be wanting to see a red card shown to the offending player.
Even before the sending off, chances at either end were few and far between. Semenyo had the best opportunity but blazed his shot high. The same player had another chance which Gabriel blocked and then up the other end, Mikel Merino put a shot wide.
The second half saw Semenyo miss another opportunity to give Bournemouth the lead before Kai Havertz headed a Declan Rice corner over the bar. Bournemouth spurned another chance and then Gabriel Martinelli replaced Trossard. Martinelli had a golden opportunity to score but with both sides of the goal to aim at, the Brazilian fired straight at their keeper.
Then came Bournemouth’s goal from a well worked corner which ended up flying past Raya. Before the end, it was 2-0 when Raya gave away a penalty. At least the referee thought he did, I thought it was harsh.
Before the end, Gabriel Jesus and Ethan Nwaneri were on the pitch with the Brazilian showing some fancy footwork to beat a couple of defenders in the box but was eventually blocked off. Penalty? No chance.
Of course every Arsenal fan will be disappointed after losing our first away match of 2024 and the first this season but losses happen. Bournemouth away from home was always going to be tough to play against with eleven players let alone ten.
Declan Rice:
I could say a million things. But I think I’m proud of the players to be honest. I think the way we reacted again, going down to 10 men was not ideal, we knew that as a group of players, we’ve just said in there [the dressing room], that’s three times in eight games that we’ve let our standards slip and if you want to compete at the top you cannot let that happen. But again, the reaction we showed to that and the belief, even on the pitch at half-time, that we could go and win the game and the chances that we had. I’m proud of these boys and I’m proud of the mentality that these boys and the club show.
We’ll keep pushing, we’ll keep fighting on, I think that’s the most important thing. The fans were amazing. It’s so disappointing because we wanted to stay unbeaten, we wanted to win the game, but this is football and it’s a real rollercoaster, it was never going to be perfect, there’s ups and downs but we need to stick together because there’s another six or seven games coming up this month so plenty of positives to look forward to.
Three unnecessary red cards this season and each one has cost us points. Two against Brighton, two against Man City and three yesterday. As said at the beginning, Arsenal only have themselves to blame because if players give the officials a decision to make, they are going to make it.
William Saliba will now miss the Liverpool game….
Arsenal now face Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday evening..
