Match report
And that’s your lot from this one. Thanks for reading!
But could Arsenal have won it...?
I enjoyed Ox looking vexed that Giroud was celebrating rather than running back for kick off.
— James Dall (@JamesDallESPN) January 3, 2017
Meanwhile, the Vitality is yer place for entertainment this season: 3-3 from 3-0 today, 4-3 from 3-1 in the game against Liverpool, 6-1 against Hull, a 3-2 defeat in extra-time to Preston in the EFL Cup. Lovely stuff.
So Arsenal produce a brilliant comeback, but potentially lose further ground on Chelsea at the top, and remain in striking distance of Tottenham. That game tomorrow is really a no-win for them...
A weird result: Bournemouth probably would’ve taken the draw before the game but walk off dejected, while a point isn’t a huge amount of use to Arsenal but they depart the scene relieved.
The Bournemouth players aren’t happy about the sending off, with the excellent Arter giving a big sarcastic thumbs up to the officiating team, before declaring Oliver an “effing joke.”
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Full-time: Bournemouth 3-3 Arsenal
What a game!
90 mins + 5: Gosling tries to bring the ball out of defence but is blocked off by Xhaka.
90 mins + 4: Arter works himself some space on the right of the box and bashes a shot towards goal, which Cech saves and just as well too - if he hadn’t got his hands to that it might have taken his head clean off.
90 mins + 3: Both teams think they can win this one now...
90 mins + 2: Xhaka curls a cross into the area, Giroud rises and gets a brilliant glancing header into the bottom corner. It might not have been as spectacular as the scorpion kick the other day, but it’s sure as hell more important.
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GOAL! Bournemouth 3-3 Arsenal (Giroud 92)
They’ve done it!
90 mins + 1: The first of six minutes added time...
90 mins: Time-wasting/vital tactical sub for Bournemouth - Brad Smith is on for Wilson, who opts for the textbook technique of shaking hands with the ref on his way off the pitch.
89 mins: Sanchez slips a pass through to Perez, but that’s too far ahead of him. Will they hold out?
87 mins: Arsenal claim a handball for a cross that just seemed to thud into Smith’s tummy. No penalty, and it’s worth noting that referee Oliver has had a pretty decent game tonight. There was the potential shove for Bournemouth’s third, but that was borderline.
86 mins: Sanchez chips over the defensive line for Ramsey, but instead of controlling the ball as he possibly had time to do, he tries an incredibly difficult spinning volley and skews it wide. Boruc is booked for taking his sweet time over the goal kick.
85 mins: Arsenal most definitely have the sniff now, and Sanchez clips a ball to the back post where Giroud...somehow doesn’t head home. Big pressure on the Bournemouth goal, and presumably will be for about ten minutes...
RED CARD - Francis
Bournemouth down to ten as Francis goes over the ball on Ramsey - there wasn’t a huge amount of contact, but that was a dangerous challenge. Big problems now for Bournemouth.
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82 mins: And that leads to a glorious chance - Gosling finds himself in the box, spins and gets around Giroud, defending for some reason, but hoys the shot wide.
81 mins: Wilson toiling up top on his own, but he does manage to retain possession. Bournemouth push up and do the sensible thing, by knocking it around high up the pitch for a bit.
79 mins: Yellow card for Mustafi after a fairly routine foul on Wilson - but that wasn’t his first routine foul, so a yellow it is.
78 mins: Bournemouth look rather nervy now. And with good reason....
75 mins: Smashing goal, as Xhaka plays a ball into Giroud, he flicks it up in the air and to the left of the box, where the substitute Perez absolutely leathers a volley into the far corner. Suddenly the Arsenal fans have hope...
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GOAL! Bournemouth 3-2 Arsenal (Perez 75)
It’s on!
74 mins: A ball is clipped over the top of the defence for Sanchez, he brings it down and almost has a shot from close range, but the linesman puts his flag up signalling, quite rightly, a handball.
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72 mins: Because Eddie Howe could do with some advice from a minute-by-minuter, the best way for them to go now would be as they were just after half-time. They briefly looked as if they would go into their collective shell and sit back, but then went on the front foot. If they do that again, they should be fine.
70 mins: Simple one: Giroud flicks on a cross at the near-post, and Sanchez is there at the far to head home. Could they...?
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GOAL! Bournemouth 3-1 Arsenal (Sanchez 70)
Now then...
69 mins: A rare Arsenal attack breaks out, and Giroud - having clearly decided this is Absurd Spectacular Goals Week - tries an audacious bicycle kick, but only swipes at air.
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67 mins: But that might be the last from Fraser - he goes down holding his calf, and before more damage is done he’s off, Adam Smith replacing him.
66 mins: More danger from Fraser, as he skips around Mustafi and is through on goal, but the slightly unlikely figure of Oxlade-Chamberlain swoops in to save the day.
65 mins: The home crowd haven’t quite got the ‘Olés’ out yet, but it’s close, as Wilson does a semi-Cruyff turn thing on the touchline.
63 mins: Subs for both teams - Andrew Surman replaces King for Bournemouth, while for Arsenal Lucas Perez is on for Iwobi, and Gabriel replaces Koscielny. Presumably he’s injured - that or Wenger doesn’t want his confidence to be battered by this shambles any further.
62 mins: “Who needs pre-match fireworks and loud noises when you can watch another season explode in mid-flightand fall back harmlessly to earth in ashes?” laments Justin Kavanagh. “A season in which a donkey kick is the highlight seems somehow apt for the Arse these days.”
61 mins: A free-kick to Bournemouth after a cynical foul by Mustafi. Stanislas curls it over the wall but Cech can get to that one, and he paws it away.
60 mins: Arsenal try to get back into things straight away, but Sanchez’s shot goes wide. They’re a rabble tonight.
58 mins: Bellerin is having an absolute torrid here. Boruc takes a catch, rolls it out to Arter, who flings a ball down the Bournemouth left for Fraser to chase with Bellerin. The winger barges the full-back to the floor - possibly illegally, but either way Bellerin was weak - dashes inside then pops the ball between Cech’s legs, and into the net. 3-0!
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GOAL! Bournemouth 3-0 Arsenal (Fraser 58)
That one’s allowed though!
GOA...no, it’s disallowed!
56 mins: The ball breaks to Arter on the edge of the box, who absolutely leathers a shot towards goal but it takes a deflection off Wilson as it goes in. The eagle-eyed referee Oliver spots that it hit Wilson’s arm, and the goal is not allowed.
54 mins: Giroud seems OK. Arsenal are getting some more purposeful attacks in, but Bournemouth are sitting incredibly deep - as Mustafi gets the ball on the edge of the centre-circle, in the Cherries’ half, no home player is further than 35 yards from his own goal. Will be a long old 36-odd minutes if they carry on like that.
52 mins: Giroud is writhing around on the floor holding his ankle - looks like he got quite badly studded by King as both went in for a challenge, but it didn’t seem to be intentional.
51 mins: A little better from Arsenal - they’re at least now giving Giroud a bit of service - he gets a head to one cross and a chest to another. Can easily see them getting back in to this one.
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49 mins: Arsenal at least look like they’re playing with a little more purpose in the opening stages. Sanchez manages to dig out a shot but it’s blocked by a couple of defenders at the near post.
47 mins: Monreal makes a run down the left, but commits the cardinal sin of being caught offside when he can look right down the line. Silly Nacho.
46 mins: And we’re away. “Regarding ‘murican hoopla, I watched a football match at Stanford a few years ago pitching the Cardinals against Notre Dame,” writes Pierre Bernardi. “The pre-match entertainment featured jokes about the Irish eating potatoes and planting bombs. I can’t get enough of American ‘humor’.”
The teams are out for the second 45. No changes at the break from either side. Well, Sanchez seems to have pulled his socks up just a little higher, to around his knees, but other than that, no changes.
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As a small bit of half-time reading, with plenty of discussion about fixture list compiling around at the moment, here’s a Q&A with the bloke who decides all this, getting all the flak from Arsène and Sam.
Half-time: Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal
Stanislas hits the set piece into the wall, and that’s the last action of the half. The Arsenal fans present boo as their players slink off.
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45 mins + 3: Iwobi gives the ball away and Wilson breaks through the middle, but Ramsey stops him by dragging him to the turf. A yellow card for the Welshman, and a free-kick in a dangerous place for Bournemouth.
45 mins + 2: Bournemouth very much ending the half as they have most of it so far - Stanislas whips a shot from the edge of the box, but it skips just wide with Cech at full stretch.
45 mins +1: Ake is allowed to almost absent-mindedly wander straight through the middle of the Arsenal side, but doesn’t slip the ball through to Wilson in space behind the defence, and eventually the attack ends when Stanislas is penalised for a push on Monreal.
45 mins: Daniels dashes down the left and is very nearly wiped out by a reckless Mustafi. He gets to the byline, gathers himself, but the cross is plucked by Cech. Three minutes of injury-time to be played.
44 mins: Cook gently goes through the back of Sanchez, if that doesn’t sound too weird, and receives a deserved booking.
42 mins: Apart from anything else, this is another game in which Arsenal have picked Giroud as centre-forward and not played to anything like his strengths. He can’t score an absurd scorpion goal every game you know.
41 mins: A chance, if you can think of such a thing, for Arsenal: Oxlade-Chamberlain makes tracks down the right, heads for the byline, cuts back to Iwobi who shoots, but a diving challenge by Francis is enough to significantly put him off.
38 mins: Arter, incidentally, is back on but moving like a man with a dodgy hip on an ice rink.
37 mins: Charles Antaki has seen the future, and it looks rather like the past for Arsenal: “Seasoned Arsenal watchers will read the signs resignedly - this has all the makings of a full meltdown. A sending-off, two more goals, and Sánchez off with a long-term injury. Otherwise, some pleasant approach work.”
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36 mins: Arter does seem to have done himself some mischief, though - he receives some treatment and hops towards the touchline, but there’s no movement on the bench yet so it’s likely that he’ll be OK.
35 mins: A lovely 30 seconds or so from Bournemouth as they move the ball around swiftly and smartly, pulling space from which there was none, some of which is used to tee up Arter, but his shot is skewed comfortably wide.
34 mins: Wilson arrows in on goal from the right, and Mustafi tries one of those lunging challenges that look great if they come off, but moronic if they don’t. Luckily for him, in this case it was the former.
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32 mins: Two Arsenal players compete to get a booking: firstly Xhaka just about pulls off a wild-looking lunge on Daniels, but then Bellerin wins the yellow prize by hacking down Fraser.
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30 mins: One might indeed...
@NickMiller79 One might caution M. Wenger in his pre-match timing complaints. One wonders if he has presented his team with an excuse.
— William Hargreaves (@billhargreaves) January 3, 2017
29 mins: Half chance for Arsenal, as Sanchez finds Ramsey nicely just inside the area, he spins and shoots, but it takes a slight deflection and goes just wide.
28 mins: Coquelin’s hammy is confirmed as banjaxed, so Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain comes on for him. Presumably that’ll be Ramsey slotting deeper into midfield, the new man on the wing and Iwobi back to No.10.
27 mins: Angus Macaskill isn’t best impressed with Xhaka: “Yes, he’s a good passer but he has no pace and repeatedly gives away fouls. Both these defects in evidence in conceding that penalty. He just doesn’t command midfield like he needs to. Oh, and his first corner and free kick failed to clear the first man.”
26 mins: More woe for Arsenal - Coquelin is on the turf and holding his left hamstring, which is never a good sign.
24 mins: As pointless shoves go, that Xhaka one was reminiscent of Emmanuel Eboue bundling Lucas over back in 2011. Now that was a funny afternoon.
22 mins: What a few minutes that was. Sanchez tries to get Arsenal back into it, shooting from the left side of the area but way over the bar. He and Ramsey have a wee argument about it for a short while, as frustrations reach the surface.
GOAL! Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal (Wilson 21)
He slips it down the middle, and a particularly hungry cat has been thrown among some very jumpy pigeons.
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PENALTY BOURNEMOUTH!
My days! Fraser dashes across the edge of the box, and Xhaka chooses the exact and only moment/yard he was actually in the area to shove him over. Brainless stuff, and up steps Wilson...
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16 mins: Bellerin gets sucked a long way inside and leaves absolutely acres for Daniels to wander around in. Stanislas hoys over a terrific pass from the right flank, Daniels controls, neatly sidesteps a scrambling Bellerin like a man carefully rounding a giddy teenager on a scooter, then slips a finish inside Cech’s near post. Lovely goal, if preventable from an Arsenal point of view.
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GOAL! Bournemouth 1-0 Arsenal (Daniels 16)
Now then.
14 mins: Two separate people have sent in the same dictionary definition to suggest that ‘obligated’ is actually OK. So let’s nip that in the bud now before we get bogged down in squabbles about language. Let’s all just be nice to each other, eh?
12 mins: Big shout for a Bournemouth penalty as Wilson chases a ball that Cech comes out for, the striker goes down but referee Oliver isn’t impressed. Replays suggest that a) Cech got enough of a touch on the ball to suggest the official was correct, and b) Wilson’s knee caught Cech in the temple, in a not dissimilar way to Stephen Hunt’s all those years back. We take the piss out of that scrum cap, but you can see why, psychologically at least, Cech keeps it. He seems fine, by the way.
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10 mins:
When you think Mkhitaryan's was better https://t.co/IRXkE3vD2k
— Jack Lang (@jacklang) January 3, 2017
9 mins: A thud as the ball whacks into Cech’s chest, from a 25-yard shot by Stanislas which swerved and curved and the keeper did well to cling to.
8 mins: Early word for all you formation dorks/Arsenal fans out there: Ramsey seems to be at No.10, initially at least, with Iwobi on the right.
7 mins: A missive from pedrantists’ corner: “Please tell them ‘Muricans that the English word is obliged, not obligated. Yours in pedantry, David Acaster.”
5 mins: The first proper shot arrives as King takes aim from range, but drags his effort wide of Cech’s goal with Bournemouth colleagues watching on, frustrated.
4 mins: Arsenal inching their way into control. A Bellerin cross from the right is cleared, then the ball reaches Sanchez in the left channel, but his slipped pass looking for the run of Ramsey from deep, goes awry.
3 mins: On the whole pre-match hoopla, Matthew Sommer writes from Over There: “With all of us ‘Muricans watching, and the NFL making more headway on your side of the pond, maybe they feel obligated to make the pre-match spectacle more exciting. Future improvements to the Premier League will also include fake hand-clapping noises, “Get Loud” flashing across the big screen during penalties, and deafening music pumped through the loud speaker during any pause in the action. Oh, and more cheerleaders. The “Old Trafford-ettes” should be very popular.”
2 mins: Bournemouth try to launch the first real attack, but Harry Arter’s attempt at a booming cross from the left simply dribbles into Cech’s grasp.
1 min: And we’re away as Bournemouth, kicking from right to left, begin proceedings.
The lights are back up, hands have been shaken, players are loose - football is imminent.
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Dipping the floodlights and putting on some sort of seizure-inducing strobe show seems to be a thing in the Premier League now: Crystal Palace were at it a few weeks ago, now Bournemouth are trying it out too. Apologies for being a silly old buffer, but what happened to just being happy with watching the football?
Ian Copestake seems to think Wenger has been at the George RR Martin: “Arsene’s command of English has always been exemplary, even while retaining that unmistakeable heavy accent of the recently arrived. So when he pondered “if the Premier League masters the fixtures,” I feel his diction has now been tainted by him gorging on fantasy fiction during the two hours celebration time he was allotted. Expect his post match presser to be littered with sage pronouncements such as “a team needs rest as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.”
On the absence of Afobe, Howe explained that while he has told DR Congo that he’s not keen on playing for them in the Africa Cup of Nations, the necessary paperwork and clearance hasn’t come through, so rather than unleashing some sort of administrative hellscape, the striker isn’t involved tonight.
Wenger says he wants to bring some “fresh legs” into the team, without disrupting the balance of the side. He also praises Bournemouth’s “constructive philosophy”, which is one of those things that just seems like a collection of noises rather than a meaningful statement. More concrete is the news that Ozil is still in bed with whatever sniffles have laid him low recently.
So still no Mesut Ozil for Arsenal, and Theo Walcott isn’t back either. However, Shkodran Mustafi does return to the heart of the defence, while Aaron Ramsey is in for Lucas Perez and Francis Coquelin replaces Mohamed Elneny in the enforcer role. For Bournemouth, obviously there’s no Jack Wilshere for admin reasons, while Benik Afobe is also missing, presumably injured.
Team news
Bournemouth
Boruc; Francis, Cook, Ake, Daniels; Arter, Gosling; Fraser, Stanislas, King; Wilson. Subs: Federici, Mings, Adam Smith, Brad Smith, Surman, Ibe, Mousset.
Arsenal
Cech; Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Xhaka; Ramsey, Iwobi, Sanchez; Giroud. Subs: Ospina, Maitland-Niles, Gabriel, Holding, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Perez, Reine-Adelaide.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Ashington)
Preamble
If everything Arsène Wenger has been saying of late is true, his players will arrive at the Vitality Stadium tonight on their hands and knees, gasping and exhausted, sucking at a passing oxygen cylinder and trying to summon every last drip of energy so they can drag themselves onto the pitch to face Bournemouth. Wenger is unhappy with the fixture compiler, see, the mysterious force who has decreed his men only have two days rest since their last game, against Crystal Palace.
“In 48 hours we go into a game with a big handicap on the fixture and I have to find fresh legs,” Wenger said after the Palace win. “In 20 years it is the most uneven Christmas period I’ve seen. The difference in rest period is unbelievable in terms of all the teams. It’s more we have sold the rights to TV for a lot of money so we have to accept TV chooses the games. But some teams have more luck than others.”
Oh! An arch reference to the ‘luck’ of some unnamed teams! Could he possibly be talking about Chelsea, who played a day before Arsenal at the weekend, and this midweek play a day after? We think he might be! Oh Arsène. “Honestly I don’t really know if the Premier League masters the fixtures,” he added, wryly no doubt.
In truth, Wenger has a point: the fixture list around this time of year clearly is absurd, and you don’t need to be no weird Dutch egg on Twitter to know that playing two games in such a short space of time, given the speed at which football is played these days, is pretty dangerous injury-wise. And when Wenger and Sam Allardyce - not exactly football’s version of Bert and Ernie - are of the same mind, it’s probably correct.
Yet Wenger has more important things on his mind, surely. Specifically, staying in touch with a Chelsea juggernaut that is in danger of careening down the tracks and out of sight. They’re already five points ahead of Liverpool in second and nine in front of Arsenal in fourth - so the mathematicians among you will have surmised that should Wenger’s boys lose tonight and Chelsea win tomorrow, that’ll be a 12-point gap and we’re only just past the halfway point of the season. It’s not an exaggeration to say that a couple of adverse results this week and their title challenge is away with the wind. If you think it isn’t already.
Standing in their way tonight, Bournemouth. A decent wee team who have a nagging consistency problem: should they defeat Arsenal, then it’ll be the first time they have won consecutive games this season, and the first time they manage it since March. Which isn’t to say they haven’t been playing well: the 3-0 defeat to Chelsea wasn’t flattering to Eddie Howe’s men, for example.
Howe, of course, is the man some expect to succeed Wenger, and a small mutual appreciation society has opened, taken subs and sent out the badges in the run-up to this game. Howe, though, at least did a passable job of feigning surprise when asked about such things recently. “That’s news to me!” he said. “It’s strange to hear this because I’m actually engrossed in the job here.” File that one alongside all those comedians who say they don’t read their reviews.
Still, should be a good one tonight. Tune in.
Kick off: 19.45 GMT.
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