
Arsenal would be forgiven for taking their focus off Saturday’s match with Bournemouth, with the second leg of their Champions League semi-final coming up on Wednesday. The Cherries will be determined to get a result after slipping to 10th last week.
Paris Saint-Germain’s victory on Tuesday was another damaging result for Arsenal in North London. The Gunners were knocked out of the FA Cup at home, beaten by Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at the Emirates, and have dropped too many points in front of their fans in the league this term.
Both Arsenal and Liverpool have only lost one home game in the Premier League, but Mikel Arteta’s side have drawn six while the Reds have only been held twice.
The manager needs two hands to count his absentees for Saturday. He is likely to rest some individuals, with little left to play for in the league.
Evanilson had his red card overturned after the 1-1 draw with Manchester United, but that won’t come as much consolation to the Cherries, who let their lead slip after going down to 10 men.
Wins for Fulham and Brighton saw both clubs leapfrog Bournemouth, who are down to 10th despite four games without defeat.
Three of those matches were draws, and while a point might be deemed a good result at Arsenal, it might not be enough if they are to remain in the hunt for the European places.
With no fresh injury concerns, Andoni Iraola may go unchanged this weekend.
Bournemouth have played Arsenal away from home eight times, all of which resulted in defeat. The first of those trips took place in 1987 - their only head-to-head before the Cherries reached the top-flight in 2015.
The South Coast outfit have won two and drawn two of their home fixtures against the Gunners, though. That includes their latest encounter in October, which Iraola’s team won 2-0 after William Saliba was dismissed after half an hour.
Ryan Christie opened the scoring that evening, before Justin Kluivert added a second from the penalty spot. The other Bournemouth victory versus Arsenal occurred in 2018.
This may be Bournemouth’s best opportunity to get something at the Emirates.
The head-to-head record isn’t pretty, but Arsenal’s attention may be elsewhere.
The best for this fixture is a bet builder featuring an Antoine Semenyo shot, over 3.5 Arsenal goal kicks, over 3.5 first half shots for Bournemouth, and a first half corner for Bournemouth.
Arsenal have shown some fragility in the Premier League as of late, partly due to the injuries but also because of a lack of intensity in their play as it is clearly not a competition they are currently prioritising.
Crystal Palace had nine shots and four corners in the opening 45 minutes at the Emirates last midweek, and Bournemouth will surely take encouragement from that. The Cherries are never shy of trying to get on the front foot early, regardless of the opposition. They had eight shots and three corners in the first half when they played at Anfield, and also ran up big counts at Tottenham, Newcastle, and Aston Villa.
Arsenal have taken at least four goal kicks in each of their last six home matches in the league, while Bournemouth have forced more than four in every away fixture.
The Semenyo shot selection, which has a perfect hit rate this term, gets us up to a backable price of 4/5.
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