Arsenal’s Premier League title ambitions took a hit with a surprising 2-0 defeat at AFC Bournemouth, marking their first loss of the season after a promising start.
Initially, the Gunners appeared in control, but a crucial mistake from Leandro Trossard shifted the momentum. His errant pass put William Saliba in a tight spot, leading to a foul on Bournemouth striker Evanilson.
After a VAR review, the referee upgraded Saliba’s yellow card to a red for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Despite showing resilience early on, Arsenal faltered in the second half as Bournemouth capitalised on their numerical advantage.
Ryan Christie found the net, and Justin Kluivert sealed the victory with a well-taken penalty, marking Bournemouth’s first league win over Arsenal since January 2018.
This defeat means Arsenal have dropped points in three of their eight Premier League matches this season, with each of those games featuring a red card.
Former Blackburn and Celtic striker Chris Sutton was particularly critical of Arsenal’s inability to secure vital points.
Sutton said (via the BBC): “We are talking about Arsenal trying to topple Manchester City, and to do so, you can’t keep dropping careless points as they have done this season on a couple of occasions.
“They did it against Brighton at home and have done it again tonight away at the Vitality Stadium.”
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are still level on 17 points with Manchester City but the reigning Premier League champions can create some breathing space when they face 19th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers tomorrow.
Table-toppers Liverpool are also likely to claim a win over Chelsea at Anfield, further widening the gap at the summit for the north Londoners to close. The Gunners face a fight on their hands as they bid to end their two-decade wait for a league title.
They lock horns with Shakhtar Donetsk next at the Emirates in the UEFA Champions League before welcoming Liverpool to London for a heavyweight league match-up next weekend.
