Arsenal’s poor disciplinary record proves costly at Bournemouth

Bournemouth (0) 2 v Arsenal (0) 0

Christie 70

Kluivert 79 (pen)

By Kaz Mochlinski at the Vitality Stadium

Premier League

Matchweek 8

Arsenal’s title-winning aspirations suffered a serious setback on the South Coast as the Gunners’ unbeaten start to the season was unexpectedly ended by a 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth.

Mikel Arteta’s team could not hold out after having to play the last hour of the match with 10 men due to William Saliba’s first-half red card - one of a series of individual errors that contributed to their capitulation.

Both of Bournemouth’s late goals were considered by Arteta to have been entirely avoidable, the first coming from a corner and the second through a penalty resulting from a mishit back pass.

With leaders Liverpool and champions Manchester City not playing until Sunday, Arsenal had the chance to go top of the Premier League. But instead they experienced their first away loss in the league in 2024.

Already missing Martin Ødegaard, Arsenal were also without one of his recent replacements as captain, Bukayo Saka, due to the hamstring injury which forced him to come off during England’s Nations League defeat against Greece.

It was Saka’s first absence for his club this season, and it is perhaps not coincidental that the Gunners ended up being beaten for the first time in this campaign.

Although Jurien Timber remains sidelined as well, Arsenal at least welcomed back Ben White after his knee injury. The Gunners’ summer signing Mikel Merino made his first Premier League start.

Gabriel Magalhães captured the side, but it was his centre-back partner, Saliba, who was involved in the crucial moment of the match when he received a straight red card after half-an-hour.

A poor pass from Leandro Trossard gave Bournemouth’s club-record £40 million signing, Evanilson, a chance to run in behind the Arsenal defence, with Saliba panicking and instinctively hauling him down.

The referee, Rob Jones, initially only showed a yellow card, but the French defender was seemingly the last man covering and so a VAR check for denial of a goal-scoring opportunity was inevitable.

After being sent to the review screen, Jones changed the yellow to a red. It was Arsenal’s third sending-off in eight Premier League games this season - the only three matches in which they have dropped points.

Having done well to hold on for draws with 10 men for 41 minutes against Brighton & Hove Albion and for 45 minutes at Manchester City, succumbing eventually to defeat at Bournemouth means the Gunners have squandered seven points in these games.

Saliba’s first career red card in his 157th top-flight appearance was Arsenal’s 18th in the league in five years under Arteta, five more than any other club, with it becoming increasingly clear that this poor disciplinary record is proving costly.

As the Arsenal fans at Bournemouth sang “10 men again, olé, olé!”, Arteta struggled through several solutions to being a man short, with Raheem Sterling initially filling in at right-back before being sacrificed

Adapting to the visitors’ various unsatisfactory changes of formation, Bournemouth finally capitalised, with two goals in the space of nine minutes, scored by two second-half substitutes, Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert.

Christie had only been on the pitch for seven minutes when he scored. More significantly from Arsenal’s perspective, the opening goal came just a minute after they should have gone in front themselves.

In a match of few goalscoring opportunities, both goalkeepers were guilty of horrible howlers offering the opposition clearcut chances, with David Raya just about surviving in the first half, and Kepa Arrizabalaga copying his Spanish countryman in the second period.

Kepa’s badly-directed pass gave the ball away to Merino, who played in Gabriel Martinelli, but the keeper made amends one-on-one by smothering the shot. That was to be the Gunners’ best chance of the game - and their only attempt on target.

Barely 95 seconds later, the Premier League’s set-piece specialists conceded from a corner, sent in low from the left by Lewis Cook, flicked on at the near post by Kluivert, and sweetly finished first-time left-footed by Christie.

It was Christie’s first Premier League goal for two years, with the Scottish midfielder’s previous strike having come against Leicester City in October 2022 - all of 68 matches ago.

The result was put beyond doubt by Kluivert’s no-look penalty, given for Raya bringing down Evanilson, when the Bournemouth striker intercepted an underhit back pass from Jakub Kiwior, filling in for Saliba at right centre-half.

The Premier League referee’s chief, Howard Webb, who was watching from the stands, will have been pleased with the way the VAR worked on the two occasions when required, being quick, clear and decisive in checking the sending-off and penalty incidents.

Evanilson did not take the spot kick after missing his last one against Chelsea, but it was his runs to steal misplaced passes which “won” both the red card and the penalty given away by Arsenal.

Kiwior had done well in the Gunners’ reorganised set-up until then, but he experienced the immediate ignominy of being hauled off, in that rare case of a substitute being himself subsequently substituted.

The rival managers, Arteta and Andoni Iraola, have known each other since their schooldays near San Sebastian, and played alongside each other for the local Basque side Antiguoko as youngsters.

They have faced each other three times as coaches, and this was the first ever game in which Iraola had defeated his friend. Moreover, it was only the second time in their history that Bournemouth have beaten Arsenal, seven seasons after their solitary such success previously in the Premier League.

And the victory this time was fully merited by an impressive Bournemouth side, which was energetically pressing the visitors from the kick-off, making it hard for them to comfortably play out from the back, causing mistakes and turnovers.

Patient in possession, prepared to continue running for each other while persevering in probing for an opening, and showing their skill, creativity, commitment and bravery, the Cherries got their reward in the final 20 minutes to secure a memorable win.

It leaves Manchester City as the only side now remaining unbeaten in the Premier League this season, with Arsenal’s capability of challenging them definitely in doubt after defeat to a team from the lower half of the table - which was swept aside 4-0 in the same fixture a year ago.

The optimism after early-season league victories away to Aston Villa and Spurs, along with the draw at Manchester City, has been painfully punctured by a sobering reality check for the Gunners. It is not a crisis, just one reverse, but its implications are worrying.

Before Bournemouth, Arsenal had been undefeated in 16 matches in all competitions since a 1-0 loss at Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final second leg in April. They had also gone 13 top-flight games and 12 Premier League away matches without being beaten.

Maybe the Gunners can blame the runs ending on a first appearance in their strange new third kit, an unfamiliar mix of irregular pale blue and violet plus navy blue. More seriously, they badly missed key players, revealing a seeming lack of squad strength in depth.

Coming up in the Premier League is a visit from Liverpool next weekend. With a nagging feeling developing that once again this might not be destined to be Arsenal’s season after all.

Bournemouth: (4-2-3-1) Arrizabalaga - Araujo (Smith 46), Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kerkez - Cook, Scott (Christie 63) - Ouattara (Sinisterra 63), Tavernier (Kluivert 63), Semenyo - Evanilson (Enes Ünal 82)

Arsenal: (4-2-3-1) Raya - White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori - Partey, Rice - Sterling (Kiwior 37 (Gabriel Jesus 80)), Merino (Nwaneri 80), Trossard (Martinelli 64) - Havertz

Attendance: 11,235