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MATCH REPORT: Bournemouth 0 – 2 Arsenal

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Bournemouth starting XI: Arrizabalaga ( GK); Araujo, Sensei, Zabarnyi, Kerkez; Cook, Scott; Semenyo, Ouattara, Tavernier; Evanilson.

Arsenal starting XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Rice, Partey, Merino; Sterling, Trossard, Havertz.

Match Officials: 

Referee: Rob Jones. 

Assistants: Neil Davies, Simon Long. 

Fourth official: Tim Robinson. 

VAR: Jarred Gillett. 

Assistant VAR: Harry Lennard.

Premier League

Vitality Stadium

19th October 2024

KO: 17:30 (UK) 

We return from another long, pointless international break which again has injured another one of our players, as this evening, we look to face Bournemouth.

With both Ødegaard and Saka out for today’s fixture Arteta will have to mix up the side playing Sterling instead of Saka aswell as bringing in Merino as Havertz will have to go up top with Trossard on the left as a result of Martinelli picking up a small injury leaving him on the bench.

Bournemouth, despite being relatively midtable, have put in some good performances this season under boss Iraola, with their most recent result being a 3-1 win against Southampton. It will be a tough test for us with our injuries however, hopefully the boys can do a job.

As we kicked off at the Vitality, with 1,000 Arsenal fans packed into the away end,  we maintained the ball for the first few minutes. However, Bournemouth matched our possession with a high press keeping us at bay for the majority of the first 10 minutes. 

Bournemouth made the game very scrappy for us as Saliba played another long ball. The Cherries were forcing us to kick it up long to Havertz who made no real threat.  The first half-chance fell to Bournemouth through a big error from Raya as his ball for Moreno was intercepted by Scott on the edge of the box. 

He played over to Semenyo who fired his effort over. We had our first surge towards goal as Sterlings cross was blocked as Semenyo beat Sterling to bring it clear and relieve the pressure to move them up the pitch into our half. Rice then won a free kick which was played to Gabriel who swung in a cross which was partially cleared out to Sterling whose cross sailed over. 

The first major moment then came as a very sloppy pass back from Trossard towards our centre backs went through our half as Evanlison looked to chase, but he was brought down by Saliba. With the Bournemouth players rushing over appealing, the referee tissues Saliba a yellow card. However, a VAR check was ongoing as they deemed Saliba to have denied a goal scoring opportunity. 

The referee went to the monitor and then changed his decision to a red card. For me yes it is a harsh red card considering how unpredictable it could’ve been if Saliba had beaten Evanilson to the on running ball, but I am not going to be against the VAR decision. I think that there needs to be a lot more consistency between all the referees for these kind of incidents as some referees may stick with their initial decisions and some may just see it as a foul. 

Anyway, with Saliba off Gabriel was able to clear the free kick. Moments later a ball in from Sensei found Semenyo whose effort was blocked brilliantly by Gabriel. 

Our best chance came a minute later as Trossard bring the ball forward and found Sterling, who went on the outside before finding across. The cross was headed away but only to Merino just inside the box. He got  a shot away but dragged it wide of the near post. Semenyo then went  on the outside before shooting with his left foot. His shot was straight at Raya who pushed it behind for a corner. 

Sterling was then replaced by Kiwior following Saliba’s dismissal. A big chance then came for Bournemouth as Semenyo crossed into the box as Raya spilled the ball to Scott whose shot was saved brilliantly through quick reactions from Raya. 

We then began to slow the game down as we approached the half time interval. White then had to watch the run of Semenyo as he made it In front before being clipped by the winger as he won a foul. A wayward cross from Bournemouth then brung the half-time whistle from Rob Jones.

Half time views:  

A very disjointed first half as a result of the sending off. However, we weren’t creating much when Saliba was on.

Arteta will be disappointed with Trossard’s lapse in concentration and Saliba’s misunderstanding, but will still want a reaction from the other 10 on the pitch. 

Hopefully we can stay strong defensively and play our game.

With the return of the second half, Adam Smith replaced Araujo. Bournemouth had an early chance as Outarra put in a cross to Semenyo who smashed over . Havertz then held the ball up superbly and managed to find Rice whose cross was awkwardly headed over by Havertz. Both sides had two spells of posession with nothing coming from it. 

Outtara then delivered  a dangerous ball in but Calafiori cleared. Moments later Semenyo delivered an inswinging cross from the other side that Tavernier headed wide of the far post. Outtara then beat White again however, his cross again went to the back post where no attacker was. 

A triple change was then enforced for Bournemouth as Kluivert, Christie and Sinisterra replaced Outtara, Scott and Kluivert. We also made a change as Trossard was withdrawn in place of Martinelli. Instant impact from Martinelli, who crossed in towards the far post , but his header was cleared behind for a corner. The corner was met by Merino but went over. Kepa then made a huge mistake gifting the ball to Merino who played in Martinelli’s whose effort was saved by Kepa who read where the ball was going. 

Bournemouth then broke the deadlock through a well-worked set piece. The ball was played along the floor into the box to Kluivert who flicked back to Ryan Christie who finished beautifully into the top corner. Bournemouth continued to push on as Kerkez’s cross was accidentally cleared behind for a corner by Calafiori.  The resulting corner was cleared. 

Moments later, a sloppy back pass from Kiwior played the ball into the path of Evanilson who looked to slip past Raya and was brought down as the referee pointed to the spot. Kluivert stepped up to take a sent Raya the wrong way slotting the ball home. Substitute Kiwior was then taken off after his error, being replaced by Jesus while Nwaneri replaced Merino. Meanwhile Unal replaced Evanilson. 

We looked to push however, nothing came as a harsh free kick was given against Nwaneri. Rice then worked well to get the ball to Calafiori whose cross was cleared. Jesus then danced forward into the box and appeared to fall over with the referee waving away any penalty claims. Time was running out as Jesus won a  foul from Sinisterra. 

We took it quickly but the following delivery searching for Havertz went into the arms of Kepa. 

Unal then went down. Semenyo was then dispossessed  as we looked to mount one last attack but it comes to nothing as Rob Jones blew the full time whistle.

Full time views: 

A very poor second half performance despite the red card in the first half. We looked very sloppy and not up for it apart from a few players such as Rice and Gabriel.

With Saliba now out for Liverpool we can only hope that Saka will be back as we missed his spark today. Not much to reflect upon the game apart from not reacting to the first goal.

Anyhow, onwards and upwards as we look to face Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday in the Champions League.

COYG

Hudson 

https://twitter.com/komerchants/status/1847657709283529155?s=46&t=NnmMnpIdEx5zWqnbfbhYSw

Arsenal’s 2025 summer to be “carbon copy” of 2024 transfer targets

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Good morning from sunny Malta!

Fed up with the English weather, I thought I would treat myself to a late break. Stepping off the plane in a hoody and jeans was not the right choice!

Today is my first full day, and I am heading down to the Blue Grotto. I’ve decided to stay in Valletta rather than the livelier St Julian’s and the view from my hotel is incredible.

A tweet is floating about this morning from back in March. It came off the back of a The Athletic article written by David Ornstein outlining what he believed to be our transfer plans this summer.

Now I am not going to go as far as others and praise Ornstein as a godlike character who knows about everything Arsenal. What he predicted as our transfer window was not ground breaking stuff. Most of us also had the same list of positions.

What it highlights though is just how well thought out our windows are now. Whilst some fans were crying about the lack of signings early doors, we ended up securing 4 of our 5 targets.

In came Raheem Sterling (back up for Saka/Martinelli), Mikel Merino (a new 6, with no one leaving), Ricardo Calafiori (left back) and Neto (back up keeper).

It was only a striker that we failed to sign. Some will attempt to paint this as a failure due to a new striker being our “number one priority”. But you have to remember that Ornstein wrote this in March.

On 14 March 2024, Havertz had played just 3 league games upfront, scoring in all 3. Up to that point, a new striker was a priority.

Over the remainder of the season, Havertz would continue upfront and score 8 goals in 11 games as our centre forward.

Havertz form meant that we potentially had our new striker. His form also led him to become Germany’s starting striker at the Euro’s.

What Havertz’s form also did was raise the bar for any incoming striker – no longer were we looking for a replacement for the injury-prone Gabriel Jesus. We were now looking for someone better than Kai Havertz, Germany’s first choice striker and 8 goals in 11 games.

We went all out for Benjamin Sesko, but ultimately the Slovenian decided to stay at RB Leipzig.

Sesko would not have come in above Havertz.

At 21, he would have dovetailed nicely with Kai, sharing the load, with Havertz aso being an option deeper. Sesko is instead playing regularly in Germany.

Beyond Sesko, I struggled to come up with a striker that could come in and do better than Havertz – and I’m talking about more than just his goal scoring prowess.

We were linked with both Ivan Toney and Victor Oshimen. It is telling where both of these ended up, and neither is now playing top level football. Ollie Watkins was another we were linked with, but his counter attacking style does not suit us.

I would not be too surprised if Sesko is on the market next summer, and I would expect Arsenal to go for him again. Although with Havertz’s form this season, there is no guarantee Sesko would start.

Next summer will probably actually be a carbon copy of 2024, in terms of positional targets.

A new striker will be hunted down, replacing Gabriel Jesus.

A new 6 or 8 will join, depending on who leaves – my gut is Jorginho will leave whilst Thomas Partey will sign a new 2 or 3 year deal. Whether we get a new 6 or 8 will then depend on how Mikel Arteta sees Declan Rice.

Personally, I like Rice as the deepest midfielder. And unlike England, we have the players who can come deep and take the ball of him. He will then be backed up by Partey (if he stays), leading us to need another 8 to compete with Merino and Martin Odegaard. This could be Olexsandr Zinchenko.

The flip side is Rice continues in that more advanced midfield role, backed up by Merino. We then need to out and sign a top number 6 who will play ahead of Partey.

A defender will then be needed.

Time has surely run out for Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney, whilst I would be surprised if Jakub Kiwior remains after another season on the bench.

Those 3 departures would leave us with Timber, White, Calafiori and Skelly-Lewis as our full back options (alongside Zinchenko who will become a utility man), and Saliba and Gabriel as our centre back options.

The middle looks light with just two “specialist” central defenders, although White and Calafiori could both spot into their sides of the defence. I think we will look for one more specialist though, and that could be Jorrel Hato.

Finally, this summer we loaned in Sterling and Neto. Both will need to be replaced next summer.

Neto’s loan deal could become permanent. Although this depends on whether he wants his career to tail off as a back up keeper, and whether he is showing the right levels in training.

Joan Garcia is a long term target for Arteta. We were priced out of him last summer but we might go again this.

And then we have Sterling.

We will not pay Sterling’s wages. Nor do I expect him to take a huge pay cut to join us.

I would not be surprised if instead of it being a back up to Martinelli and Saka, we go and get someone who is better than Gabi, with the Brazilian becoming that back up. Could we go back in for Nico Williams?

Anyway, my bus is 2 minutes away from the Blue Grotto. Have a great day and hopefully it is not too cold back in Blighty!

Keenos

Martinelli injury, Humbled Haaland and Guardiola departing

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Martinelli injury

With 2 goals and 2 assists in the last 3 games, it felt like Martinelli was finally regaining his confidence and returning to form, so it is frustrating to read that he hobbled off in training yesterday for Brazil.

It is not yet clear if it was a pre-caution, or a sign of a bigger issue. What we do know is Gabi was feeling discomfort in his right calf, and he had the area strapped during training. He has since had an MRI scan.

I would be surprised if he plays against Peru, and a longer absence will be frustrating for Mikel Arteta having also seen Bukayo Saka pick up a hamstring injury for England.

What I would say is in Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Leandro Trossard, with have 3 options who can all play outwide against Bournemouth this weekend.

If either Martinelli or Saka is not fully fit, we need to look long term and give them a week off. Following Bournemouth is Shakhtar at home followed by Liverpool away.

Without being arrogant, we should overcome Bournemouth with a front 3 of Sterling, Havertz and Jesus. Saka and Martinelli can then focus on getting fit for Liverpool.

Humbled Haaland

In Martin Odegaards absence, Erling Haaland has been wearing the captains armband.

Following last nights 5-1 defeat to Austria, the stand in captain refused to answer media questions, highlighting that great goal scorers do not necessarily make great leaders.

Players should always be angry and upset when they lose, but a captain should also be aware of his obligation to face up to defeat. Not to run away, hide and cry. Haaland is clearly not leadership material.

I have always thought that Haaland comes across is arrogant. As aloof. That everyone else is below him. And this might be what has helped him become the greatest goal scorer of his generation.

Maybe he needs to take his own advice and stay a bit more humble. Realise that defeats are part of the game. That you can not expect to win every game. And that when you do not get a positive result, you can not just throw your toys out of your pram, abuse others and hide away from your obligatins.

Guardiola departing

At the risk of becoming a Manchester City blog for the day, I want to talk about Roy Keane saying England should “go for” Pep Guardiola.

I get where Roy is coming from. England should go out for the best. But it also shows the Irishman is grasping for headlines in the same way as his pal Greame Souness. it is very clickbait of Roy to say England should go for Pep.

What I did not realise, however, is that Pep’s Manchester City contract is expiring at the end of the season, and Pep has been very coy about his future saing recently “I’ve not decided anything, everything can happen. So I don’t know. Let’s see on my future. I still need to reflect and decide what I want to do.”

Considering Jurgen Klopp’s departure from Liverpool, and Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander Arnold are in the last season of their contract, the English football could look very different in 12 months. And a host of departures could leave the door open for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal.

Arteta has build a young squad that should stay together for the next 5 or 6 years. But we now just need to win the trophies to keep the players happy. Pep departing could put City into disarray. We are perfectly positioned to take advantage of any drop off in City’s performances over the next half a decade.

Keenos