Bournemouth Fight Back to Shock Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday
Bournemouth heaped more misery on Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday, as they recovered from a goal down to win 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium.
In a goalless first period, Ainsley Maitland-Niles came closest for Arsenal, as he rattled the bar. At the other end, Bournemouth had a strong penalty appeal waved away after Alex Iwobi appeared to handle the ball in the area.
Seven minutes after the restart, Hector Bellerin broke the deadlock for the visitors after scampering down the right flank and squeezing a shot home. But the Cherries' response was fantastic, and two goals in four minutes from Callum Wilson and Jordon Ibe put them 2-1 ahead and on course for a famous win.
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The victory lifted Bournemouth up into 13th place, while Arsenal remain five points adrift of Tottenham Hotspur in sixth.
With Alexis Sanchez dropped from the Arsenal squad amid continued speculation about his future, all eyes were on the Gunners to see how they would respond.
Early on there were some flashes of class, especially from Maitland-Niles as he wriggled free in the area. Asmir Begovic was rooted to the spot as he watched the youngster's effort clatter off the crossbar.
Meanwhile, Jack Wilshere was pulling the strings in midfield. The Independent's Jack Pitt-Brooke was enjoying his performance:
The Gunners were unable to make the most of their early dominance, allowing Bournemouth to grow in confidence.
Ryan Fraser was particularly threatening and brought a smart stop out of Petr Cech in the Arsenal goal. Bournemouth then should have been given a clear chance to equalise, when Iwobi nudged the ball with his arm under the nose of referee Kevin Friend.
101 Great Goals provided images of the incident:
"That's a penalty pic.twitter.com/l7RM1ocFVE
— 101 Great Goals (@101greatgoals) January 14, 2018"
It was a moment of controversy in what was an otherwise quiet half, as both sides trudged off with the match locked into a stalemate.
After the break it didn't take long for Arsenal to find another gear in attack. Bellerin in particular impressed as he was played in down the right flank by Iwobi and surged away from Charlie Daniels.
The full-back decided to shoot from an angle in the box, and although Begovic got a hand to it, the ball trickled behind him into the net. As noted by OptaJoe, it was Bellerin's second goal in successive Premier League matches:
Bournemouth weren't deterred by conceding, though, and were straight back on the front foot against Arsenal.
The Gunners, when they did have to defend, appeared decidedly shaky, and when they failed to deal with a cross into the box from Fraser in the 70th minute, Wilson was the man most alert, tucking the ball home with his left foot.
Cech certainly could have done better, though, as he rushed out to try and cut out the delivery, leaving Wilson with an empty net. Per Sky Sports Statto, the landmark goal for Wilson prevented the goalkeeper from reaching one:
Things were to get worse for the toiling Gunners, as four minutes later they were behind. Wilson was again involved as he somehow had the time to control a long ball forward in the penalty area and tee up Ibe. The former Liverpool man fired his shot low and under the legs of Cech.
As noted below, at this point it felt as though the problems were really mounting up for Arsenal, who had 16 minutes to muster a response:
Per Football365's Daniel Storey, the match was becoming a familiar tale for the Gunners, who have had some longstanding issues away from home:
In the final stages, Arsenal did fly forward in search of an equaliser, although the attacking spark usually provided by the likes of Sanchez and Mesut Ozil was noticeably absent. Bournemouth held on comfortably.
This win will give Eddie Howe's side some breathing space in their bid to avoid relegation and is arguably one of the club's best results since their promotion back to the top flight. Arsenal, having been eliminated from the FA Cup a week ago, have endured a torrid start to 2018.
