Arsenal suffered a costly defeat in Saturday’s English title race. At home, Mikel Arteta’s side suffered a surprise 1-2 loss to 13th-placed AFC Bournemouth. The gap between Premier League leaders Arsenal and second-placed Manchester City is now nine points, but City still have two games in hand. The first of those comes on Sunday, away at Chelsea.
Both sides were without Dutch talent: Jurriën Timber (Arsenal) and Justin Kluivert (Bournemouth) are injured. The Gunners were also missing the injured Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard, while Myles Lewis-Skelly made his first Premier League start since late December.
The first real chance, created when Adrien Truffert’s cross was deflected by William Saliba, allowed Eli Junior Kroupi to tap in at the far post: 0-1.
Arsenal struggled to respond. Kai Havertz headed just over from a Declan Rice corner, but otherwise the hosts failed to threaten.
Just after the half-hour mark, Arsenal were awarded a penalty when Ryan Christie handled in the box, and Viktor Gyökeres stepped up to level the scores: 1-1.
Yet the Gunners remained flat, with Evanilson and Alex Scott troubling the hosts. Shortly after the break, Arteta introduced Eberechi Eze, Leandro Trossard and Max Dowman in a bid to change the game.
Arsenal finally began to look threatening. Declan Rice saw his effort go just over via Djordje Petrovic, and a Gyökeres goal was ruled out for offside. Bournemouth sensed an opening, and through Scott—who benefitted from a fortunate bounce—they made it 1-2 with 15 minutes left.
Arsenal then poured forward in search of an equaliser, but wasted chances by Gyökeres and substitute Gabriel Jesus proved costly. To compound their frustration, the Swede also picked up a yellow card that rules him out of next week’s potentially decisive clash with Manchester City.