Match Day Thread Arsenal vs AFC Bournemouth - Matchday Thread

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Venue: Emirates Stadium
KO time: 15:00 GMT
Date: Saturday 4th March 2023

Overall Record

Wins: 10
Losses: 1
Draws: 2

Last six meetings

AFC Bournemouth 0-3 Arsenal
AFC Bournemouth 1-2 Arsenal (FA Cup)
AFC Bournemouth 1-1 Arsenal
Arsenal 1-0 AFC Bournemouth
Arsenal 5-1 AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth 1-2 Arsenal

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That team is…interesting. Didn’t expect Vieira or Tomiyasu to be starting. Hopefully it works.

 

1-0 Bournemouth after 9 seconds . Wtf was that about? Ball went right under Gabriel's foot, Saliba switched off and Billing makes it 1-0. Joke start.

 

HT. 0-1.

I'm still stunned that we conceded in the first 9 seconds. But when I watch the goal back, I just get more and more angry. How has absolutely everyone switched off? Why did Zinchenko not get closer to the winger? How has Gabriel let that slip through his boot? Why did both Partey and Saliba let Billing get past without tracking him?

Just a catalogue of stupid, naive errors.

Unsurprisingly, Bournemouth have defended with two banks of 5 and we are struggling to break them down because we have 3 strikers injured and no focal point because everyone keeps dropping deep to get the ball. We will need to do better than this to break them down.

Saying this, we got caught cold on the counter in the 20th minute and Ramsdale made a monumental save to stop them going 2-0 up.

It's just a total calamity.

We really need to be better than this second half.

 

Based on how this second half has started (exactly same as first half), don’t see us winning today. We just don’t look at the races whatsoever.

 

2-0 Bournemouth. We’ve ****ed it. We’ve absolutely ****ed it.

 

I usually back a lot of Arteta’s decisions but this wasn’t the game to mess with the chemistry of the squad and rotate in two vital areas of the pitch.

This has been a nightmare from start to finish and I think we’ve ****ed our chances of winning the league.

 

2-1. Partey. Can’t help but feel we’ve left it too late though. Although a draw from this position would obviously be better than a loss, a draw still wouldn’t be good enough.

 

And just as we make it 2-1 to half the deficit, Bournemouth nearly add a 3rd wtf is going on with this defence?

 

2-2, White. Let’s see if we can get a winner, but I really don’t trust this defence at all and think we may concede a 3rd.

 

OH MY GOD REISS NELSON SCREAMER I DONT BELIEVE IT 3-2 YEESSSSSS

 

Is it just written in the stars at this point…?

but I’m sorry I have to say; the refereeing in this country is rock bottom.

How in the world did we not get a penalty for one of the FOUR handballs????

 

We had numerous valid penalty shouts turned down and we STILL won the game. Never doubting the mentality of this team again.

 

Man, my emotions are all over the place. What a ****ing win. This will do wonders for our belief.

Reiss Nelson, what a hero.

 

he of little faith you should know better by now lol

 

Haha, in my defence, it didn’t look like we were going to score. We were dominating the ball without creating an abundance of clear chances, but also looked vulnerable on the counter attack. Saliba and Gabriel were clumsy all game. I also didn’t think Tomiyasu was particularly good (though he’s not played much so maybe some match rustiness was expected). Martinelli and Saka also weren’t impacting the game much.

But Nelson had a huge impact coming on and White (regardless of his goal) helped us get more balance on the right hand side.

I am still concerned that we are leaking too many goals at home and hope that doesn’t cost us later down the line.

 

Another ****ing crazy win!

I think we are actually going to win it.

 

Another thing I will say is teams are playing this low block against us (parking the bus) but that's going to be even less successful when Gabriel Jesus comes back. The Brazilian is soo good at running/dribbling though those tight defences.

 

This is exciting stuff we are watching here! The team may have blemishes but boy oh boy they work their socks off and absolutely love playing for one another, I have so much admiration for this group of players, Arteta and the support team!

No group of players deserve to win the PL more than these guys and I'm not being biased

So happy and proud to be a Gooner right now but I am nervous as **** with 12 games still to play, surely we can't can we?

As mentioned above, suntan man Ben White has a big part to play and he made a difference along with Nelson today. Still not sure why we played Viera over Xhaka too, squad rotation I guess with Europa coming up. Glad we have Ramsdale too, this guy is immense considering his age. Oh Jesus where are you, the team needs you back!

 

Some absolute comedy in here. Love the Nigerians at 2:48 and Singapore at 4:40