Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Trossard
Subs: Setford, Tierney, Zinchenko, Clarke, Merino, Gower, Nwaneri, Sterling, Butler-Oyedeji
Arsenal surrendered another lead and may well find themselves in a race for Champions League football after losing 2-1 against Bournemouth at Emirates Stadium on Saturday, despite a first half strike from Declan Rice.
Mikel Arteta made two changes to the side that lost against PSG on Tuesday, with Ben White and Thomas Partey replacing Jurrien Timber and Mikel Merino.
More worryingly, Timber was left out of the matchday squad altogether after “suffering a knock” against the French champions.
It was a scrappy start from both teams, with Arsenal guilty of giving the ball away sloppily on several occasions as Bournemouth looked to implement their high press.
With 15 minutes on the clock, the game’s first real chance came when Gabriel Martinelli found Declan Rice running in behind – with a lovely one touch pass – but the midfielder dragged his left footed effort wide.
Minutes later, there was another chance for Rice after Martinelli burned past Julian Araujo down the left and found his teammate on the edge of the box, but he miscued his effort wide once again.
But it was Bournemouth who should have taken the lead when Milos Kerkez was given way too much time and space to cross, finding Evanilson in the middle who escaped Jakub Kiwior but somehow headed over from close range.
Within a minute of that lucky escape, there were two quickfire chances for the Gunners with Martinelli dragging a presentable shot wide , before Kepa was at his best to save from Trossard who guided a header towards the far corner.
Arsenal did eventually break the deadlock and it came from the best player on the pitch – Declan Rice – who was played through by a lovely Odegaard pass, before rounding Kepa and firing into an empty net despite Ilya Zabarnyi’s last minute attempts to stop the goal. 1-0.
Rice had been threatening all game in advanced positions and after some missed chances, his intelligent, powerful running was finally rewarded with a striker’s finish.
There was another nearly moment for Bournemouth when Justin Kluivert ran off Ben White (who looked visibly rusty in the first half) and charged towards goal, but his effort struck William Saliba and looped over with Raya scrambling.
It wouldn’t be an Arsenal game these days without a defensive mix up, and this one came from Raya and Odegaard who got their wires crossed playing out from the back, although luckily for them – Evanilson couldn’t repeat the same strike as Jean-Philippe Mateta and his chipped effort sailed over.
Into the second half, there was obvious an end-to-end feel in the game with both sides threatening but Arsenal had the better chances with Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka both going close after some questionable defending from the visitors.
But Bournemouth had moments of their own with Kerkez and Dango Ouattara both getting free down the left side but their final balls let them down.
With Arteta’s men failing to get that all important second goal, the visitors equalised in the 67th minute after Dean Huijsen rose highest from Antoine Semenyo’s long throw and headed into the far corner beyond Raya. 1-1.
It looked entirely avoidable from an Arsenal perspective and most of the defenders in the box didn’t even bother to challenge the teenage defender who capitalised with maximum efficiency.
The momentum started to swing in Bournemouth’s favour after the equaliser and Arsenal were looking increasingly ragged, and the Cherries ended up taking the lead through Evanilson who found himself clear at the back post and bundled home from a corner. 1-2.
VAR checked the incident for both offside and handball, but despite the ball clearly striking Evanilson on the elbow they allowed the goal to stand, because there was “no conclusive evidence that he handled the ball before scoring”.
Arteta made three changes in search of an equaliser, bringing Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling and Ethan Nwaneri on but Arsenal couldn’t create a clear cut chance in the remaining ten minutes before the referee blew his final whistle.
This was another disappointing performance where a lead was surrendered, chances were missed and a soft spine was exploited under the slightest amount of pressure.
PSG also lost on Saturday – against Strasbourg – but they made ten changes to their side and Arsenal made two, on top of starting most of their key players.
This result couldn’t have gone much worse and now the season rides on Wednesday’s second leg with a “top five race” very much in play for the final weeks. That’s a throwback nobody needed.