With Mikel Arteta and Andoni Iraola not due to speak to the press until this morning/lunchtime today, I’m left looking at training pics and videos to try to guess some team news, as well as looking at what the pundits are saying about this tough one tomorrow.
Firstly, the training pics and team news, and the real positive from yesterday was the sight of Eze in full training. He’s been out for three-and-a-bit weeks so far, so having him back is timely. Especially so, given that Odegaard wasn’t pictured in the open training session that the club held yesterday. Now, that doesn’t mean he isn’t good for Saturday, because there were other players not there, and I have a feeling we’ll see a few line up against the Cherries. For example, in the video session, there was no Timber, Hincapie, Calafiori, or Saka in shot. They might have been doing work inside, and, given that Calafiori has played a lot of football lately, plus Odegaard has been out, my gut feeling tells me that this weekend we might see Timber, Calafiori, and Odegaard. Whether we see Saka remains to be seen. The general vibes we got from Tuchel, and then Arteta was that he wasn’t far away, so I suspect they are just managing his load in training.
The good news is that Noni looked decent against Sporting, and if they want to be super cautious tomorrow, they can just have Saka on the bench and give Noni the start. In a way, you’d probably say he earned it and, were the referee to actually have done his job on Tuesday night and booked Araujo, I’m pretty sure we’d have seen even more from him as he’d have had more licence to try to beat a man who would already have been on a (deserved) yellow. With Eze back, that kind of covers any concern about Odegaard starting back-to-back games, which just really leaves question marks over the full-backs. Ben White has been playing more football, but Arsenal must surely be getting to the point of concern re: his ability to complete consecutive 90s. The upside is that Mosquera could come in and deputise if White needs his minutes managed, but on the other side, Myles looked off the pace against Southampton, so Calafiori starting tomorrow is one I have my eye on in particular. I do think Myles would be better with more of the first-XI regulars on the pitch, but there’s no doubt Calafiori adds a spot of dynamism to that position, which we might need against Bournemouth. So, of all the players I hope the club is wrapping up in cotton wool, the Italian is top of my list to be protected and told to get out there tomorrow lunchtime.
We’ll know more from the manager later at his press conference, but for now, let’s turn our attention outwards and see what some of the pundits think about tomorrow, eh? I had a little look at how Bournemouth may play against us based on the numbers and some of the comments from their fans in [yesterday’s blog,](https://www.suburbangooners.com/2026/04/09/28-days-later-bournemouth-looms-on-the-horizon/) but I’m interested in knowing what the supposed ‘neutrals’ think.
Well, let’s start with that grumpy bar steward, Chris Sutton, who thinks we’ll get a 2-0 victory, but does admit in his commentary that Bournemouth will give us a good game. I didn’t realise that they were undefeated in the League since we played them in January! That’s 11 games and, whilst a lot of those matches have been draws, it shows they are a tough side to beat. Conversely, I guess, and for balance, we are also [unbeaten in the league for our last eight](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/arsenal-fc/spielplan/verein/11) in the Premier League since that defeat to United at home, although some have admittedly been anything but comfortable (Chelsea, Brighton and Everton the last three that we played and hardly convincing).
Merson has gone ‘balls out’ with his prediction, saying we’ll beat Bournemouth 3-0 and City getting a draw at Chelsea, which means the title is ‘over’. I can’t see any of these things happening. Firstly, I do think we might concede, given that Bournemouth are a side that knows how to get goals. I don’t think it will be an easy 3-0 for us, but nor do I see Chelsea getting anything against City; they’ve already handicapped themselves by sidelining Enzo Fernandez, and I think City will smell blood.
Lewis Jones on Sky Sports is an interesting one, though. I quite respect his opinion because he’s a guy who knows about the betting markets, and they make it their job to know absolutely everything that the data tells them. He’s talking about how Bournemouth are on a good run of 12 in all competitions unbeaten, but that in their last six matches, there has been regression. This is good. This is the kind of intel I need to soothe my worried heart. Apparently, their xG against in those games is nearly two goals per game. They are giving teams chances. So he’s gone for a 2-0.
And finally, to Sports Mole, who have said it will be a ‘winning ugly’ kind of 2-1 game for The Arsenal. At this stage, I think as all of us have said in the pubs, WhatsApp chats and on social media, we accept that this might just ‘be us’ for the rest of the season. We have to make peace with that. I would bite yer hand off for a 2-1, and that’s my gut feel on scoreline, as I mentioned above with Bournemouth’s form and yesterday with their chance creation. They put the probability of an Arsenal win at 64.7%, with the most likely score being 1-0 with a 13% probability. I don’t buy that, for the aforementioned reasons, but I do hope that some karma comes our way from last season, because to me that Evanilson winner at The Emirates was handball. It clearly came off his elbow, and if that happened to us, you’d bet VAR would have pulled it back. Not that I’m still bitter or anything, mind…
So that’s the view from the pundits. We’ll hear the team news and vibes from the managers later today, so now all we have to do is wait until kick-off to see what sort of Arsenal we’re going to get, and what sort of Bournemouth will show up as well.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a match preview. See you then.