The words Mikel Arteta used to describe Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth were pointed and deliberately hard-hitting, and they probably needed to be. Arsenal’s performance at the Emirates was one of their worst at home all season, and the timing could scarcely have been worse.
“Extremely disappointing, obviously,” Arteta told TNT Sports after the final whistle. “It’s a big punch in the face and it is about how we react now.”
Junior Kroupi gave Bournemouth the lead after 17 minutes, with Ryan Christie providing a perfectly-weighted pass through a defence that appeared to have switched off. Viktor Gyökeres pulled Arsenal level from the penalty spot, but the reprieve was brief.
Alex Scott restored Bournemouth’s advantage in the 74th minute, and Arsenal never found their way back into the contest. It was a third consecutive domestic defeat, following the Carabao Cup final loss to City and their shock FA Cup exit against Southampton.
What made the display particularly concerning was the near-total absence of dangerous open-play football from a team that has prided itself on attacking quality all season. Their expected goals from open play registered at just 0.19, their second lowest on record in a Premier League match. Kai Havertz, asked to carry creative responsibility in the absence of Odegaard, was anonymous. Eberechi Eze came off the bench early in the second half alongside 16-year-old Max Dowman, the latter’s presence reflecting both his rapid rise and the thinness of Arsenal’s attacking options.
Arteta acknowledged that his players are hurting, and said they have to. “A lot, and it has to,” he said when asked whether the defeat was affecting morale. “You have to take it on the chin. There are no grey areas now. You stand up and go for the fight or you are out.” When pressed on fatigue as a factor, with Arsenal playing their 54th game of the season against Bournemouth, the manager was firm: “I don’t want to pull on those excuses. That’s the context and we have to embrace it.”
Arsenal now face Sporting Lisbon in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday, holding a slender one-goal lead from the first leg. Three days after that, they travel to the Etihad. The margin for error has gone from comfortable to non-existent within the space of a weekend.
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