Boasting a 9-point advantage over Manchester City prior to kick-off, goals from Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott either side of Viktor Gyokeres’ penalty condemned Mikel Arteta’s side to just their second home league defeat of the season.
In a largely uneventful opening 15 minutes, Arsenal struggled to keep hold of the ball under pressure from the Bournemouth press, but Myles Lewis-Skelly – making his first Premier League start of the season – dampened those concerns with several nice touches to alleviate the rising temperature inside the Emirates.
The Gunners were then cut open after 18 minutes played by a deep pass in behind the sleeping Ben White before Adrien Truffert found Junior Kroupi at the back post with a deflected cross as the latter acrobatically tapped into an empty net.
The Emirates crowd were momentarily stunned but reacted with a collective roar to get behind their team with Arsenal struggling. Kroupi’s opener seemed to open up some old wounds of panic as David Raya powerfully clapped his gloves together to rally his teammates.
Uncharacteristically loose passing followed. The reliable pair of Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi suddenly looked a shadow of themselves. With 30 minutes on the clock, Arteta’s side found themselves floundling.
The closest the Gunners came to an equaliser was a Kai Havertz header from Rice’s inswinging corner, but the German could only bounce the ball off his shoulder and on to the top of Djordje Petrovic’s net.
You could only point to the pressure of winning their first Premier League title for 22 years as the catalyst for Arsenal’s errors. Once again, they struggled to create any meaningful opportunities but were spared by Viktor Gyökeres' 35th-minute penalty.
After Noni Madueke’s corner had found Martin Zubimendi at the near post, the Spaniard somehow found Gabriel with a flick through a sea of Bournemouth bodies. The defender then prodded the ball towards goal as it struck the flailing arm of Alex Jimenez before Michael Oliver pointed to the spot.
Gyökeres – with five goals in his last four matches for club and country – stepped up before firing past Petrovic to make it 1-1.
Parity restored. It was now on Arteta’s team to capitalise on the momentum generated by the Swede’s equaliser.
Arteta had waxed lyrical about the returning Eberechi Eze’s “obsession” with pushing himself back to fitness for the run-in but elected to make no half-time substitutes with Havertz struggling to make an impact.
As the Premier League leader began the second half in similar fashion, Arteta switched his approach and brought on Eze along with Leandro Trossard and teenager Max Dowman, replacing Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Noni Madueke, respectively.
Arteta had seemingly accepted that the passive nature of the attacking players who started the game – barring Gyokeres – had failed to deliver what he might have hoped for before kick-off.
David Raya then made an unlikely blunder, spooning the ball straight at Evanilson after receiving Gabriel’s backpass before Raya’s blushes were spared as it rolled harmlessly out for a goal kick.
The Arsenal goalkeeper’s error felt like a sliding-doors moment. The temperature, fuelled by a collective anxiety inside the stadium, seemed to seed itself in the minds of the Arsenal players. Individual mistakes continued, and the crowd began to turn. The atmosphere was as hostile as it has been this season.
Gyokeres then had the ball in the net after running off the back of Marco Senesi, but a late offside flag denied him a second.
The Arsenal player, to their credit, didn’t shy away from throwing themselves in front of everything that came their way. Both Trossard and Eze tracked back after a turnover inside the Bournemouth half to heroically block shots from Marcus Tavernier and Ryan Christie.
After countless mistakes in possession, the hosts were punished by Andoni Iraola’s side as Alex Scott capitalised on a break in play, beating David Raya after racing through on goal unchallenged.
It was truly a dagger to the hearts of Arteta and his players. They hadn’t looked up for the challenge of rising to the occasion in such a pivotal fixture before Manchester City’s clash with Chelsea tomorrow.
Prior to the introduction of Gabriel Jesus and Cristhian Mosquera, Dowman had been Arteta’s final throw of the dice. Twisting and turning inside Adrian Truffert down the Bournemouth left-hand side, the 16-year-old again looked like Arsenal’s biggest attacking threat.
Late chances for Gabriel, Gyokeres and Eze might have salvaged a point for Arsenal on another occasion, but Arteta’s side were simply beaten by the better team on the day.
As Manchester City travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday to face Chelsea, the Gunners are now firmly looking over their shoulder ahead of arguably the club’s most crucial match of Arteta’s tenure when they arrive at the Etihad next weekend to face Pep Guardiola’s side.