AFC Bournemouth travelled to London on Saturday morning to face Premier League champions-elect Arsenal in the Premier League.
The game was selected by TNT Sports, meaning an early 12.30 pm kick off. One benefit from this was a nice, quiet run up the M3.
The Cherries were backed by a full 3,000 allocation, and despite all the efforts from Arsenal to generate a noise, an odd newly written anthem, a half-arsed Tifo and chasing a first Premier League title in 20 years, it was the away fans in full voice. Especially once Ryan Christie sliced open the Arsenal defence for Tavernier to put the ball into the box, the ball took a deflection for Eli Junior Kroupi to dispatch at the back post. 1 nil to the Bournemouth.
Arsenal failed to create anything from open play, as AFC Bournemouth’s press from the front made them panic again and again at the back.
Arsenal were handed a lifeline when Michael Oliver, who in the build-up to the game had come under some scrutiny for referring Arsenal harshly, awarded Arsenal a soft and dubious penalty. Despite Petrovic’s best efforts, the scores were level.
Into the second half, and it was more of the same, Arsenal desperate to prove that they’re not panicking, by being slow and ponderous in possession. AFC Bournemouth knew they had a chance and put them under more and more pressure. Raya nearly gifting Evanilson a chance was the first warning sign, but it wouldn’t be the last.
The press from the front and showing desire to win the second ball, was how the winner came. The press, a header from Tyler Adams, a ball from David Brooks, a little flick from Evanilson and Alex Scott, who should be wearing an ill-fitted England shirt in the summer, coolly sending Raya the wrong way.
Arsenal, of course, piled on the pressure, even sending goalkeeper Raya up at corners in stoppage time. But the league leaders lacked bottle in front of goal.
Man of the Match against Arsenal
Evanilson
Evanilson
Vote
Hill
Hill
Vote
Scott
Scott
Vote
Tavernier
Tavernier
Vote
Kroupi
Kroupi
Vote
Someone else
Someone else
Vote
After the game, AFC Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola told Sky Sports…
“Pressing is one of our strengths. Playing against Arsenal, Man Utd the other day, they give us chances to recover the ball.
“Sometimes you play against teams who go direct early, and you cannot play this cat-and-mouse game.
“If you go man to man, they will go direct. We leave them a little bit and then go, sometimes it works, sometimes you want to keep an extra man at the back.
“Sometimes it’s a matter of a duel, one-v-one. If you win that, it’s a chance for you and if you lose a chance for them. It’s a high-risk, high-reward game.
“In most of the situations, I think we won a lot of the duels, we were the ones benefitting more.”
Southender1954
Andoni is a tactical genius, and we are so lucky to have him. I hope he stays for at least one more season. Pay him whatever he wants Bill.
NorthStandMark
Effort levels today were off the scale. Obviously, we’ve had a good rest lately, but big credit for giving it everything.
"It's a big statement"
Match winner Alex Scott talks beating Arsenal and making it to 12 games unbeaten in the Premier League 🙌
🎙️ @Becky_Ives_
📺 TNT Sports and HBO Max pic.twitter.com/c2w3ZYrO9O
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 11, 2026
table
Well, it’s well worth getting up at 3 o’clock, arriving at 9-30 in the cold and rain. Now leaving in bright sunshine, 3 points better off on a very perky Riverside Rocket : )
I don’t know what it looked like on the telly, but in the stadium we were imperious. Absolutely brilliant feeling at the end, the opposite of what I felt 2 years ago after we “Gary O’Neiled” them 3 points after we were leading 0-2. Credit to our fans for the noise in the stadium and especially outside after the match : )
In theory, they had a side of slightly better players. Whereas we, in reality, were the best team : )
Can’t wait to see Scott’s goal. We’ve seen that type build up in nearly every game, and it’s worth a round of applause if we get a corner. When it translates into a match winner, it’s pure delirium : )
Safe travels, all you happy happy Cherries on your way home. Make sure you all savour it and enjoy yourselves (and anyone else you’re lucky enough to meet) : )
Paul Merson says Arsenal's confidence will have been "smashed to pieces" following their defeat at home to Bournemouth 😬👀 pic.twitter.com/wJDgx0NmY3
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 11, 2026
CanadianCherry
Brilliant performance. Everyone was good.
Only criticisms for me would be that Rayan looked a little off the pace. Not sure what it was, but he should have been attacking the post, making runs, and he seemed to be a couple of steps behind.
Petrovic was pretty good, but there were a couple of weird moments when he punched away what should have been a very easy grab.
James Hill is a monster. Wow.
Senesi – when he invited 2 Arsenal players to press him, then sort of turned himself inside-out and stepped right through both of them . . . .
This was a game where we actually had the depth to bring on subs without the levels falling off a cliff. That, combined with our long break, is why we were able to actually press them for most of the game. It was great to see.
What went wrong for Arsenal today?
Clinton Morrison reflects on a 'massively disappointing day' for Mikel Arteta's side 🔴 pic.twitter.com/6y0yiURS0c
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) April 11, 2026
corfe_red
Just back, great day, great team performance, everyone played their part, what a great time to be a Cherries fan……..but drum noise over the speakers above us ……Arsenal, take a look at yourselves…..
thegazzyb
Arsenal can be thankful that they got that penalty. I could only see them scoring from the penalty spot or possibly a corner.
From open play, they never looked like creating anything. We had them in our pocket today.
A very well-deserved victory for our boys.
Andoni said before the match that you need to be better than just good to win at their place. We were better than just good all over the pitch today and made the runaway champions elect look extremely toothless.
An away performance to savour.
Great to see us return from such a long break with that kind of desire to win.
The unbeaten run continues, but this time with a long overdue three points as our reward. – To join the conversation, please click here.
Photo of DJ
DJ
I have been a writer and website administrator on the largest AFC Bournemouth fan website for almost 25 years. Previously on a now defunct fan network and since 2005 on vitalfootball.co.uk We have been nominated for various fan website awards down the years, however we have always been the bridesmaid…