Arsenal 1-2 Bournemouth: Binary Gunners again pay the price for lack of goals

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video

There are a lot of stats doing the rounds this morning after our 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth yesterday.

That loss, a game in which we went ahead through Declan Rice, means that we have dropped 21 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season. That makes it joint-most ever in a single campaign alongside 2019/20. In 10 matches, we have either drawn or lost having led. There’s also a clear fragility from set-pieces, and after we conceded from a long throw and a corner, it means nearly 40% of the goals we’ve let in this season have come in this manner. Do we need a defensive set-piece coach?

What about this one though. In 17 of the 35 league games we have played, Arsenal have scored just 0 or 1 goals, which accounts for 30 points that have gone by the wayside. In four of those games, we won 1-0; we lost four of them (0-2, 0-1, 0-1 and yesterday’s 1-2), and the others have been draws.

To me, this is our big problem, and when Mikel Arteta talks afterwards about not taking chances and killing the game, he can’t have been surprised because it’s been happening all season. It happened before we had that glut of injuries to players in forward positions (7 occasions before Bukayo Saka’s injury against Crystal Palace), and somewhat understandably has happened with more frequency since, but for me this is at the core of our underwhelming season in the Premier League.

It’s probably also worth pointing out that we went out of the FA Cup because we couldn’t score more than one goal at home against 10 man Man Utd, and lost two EFL Cup semi-finals without scoring a single goal. I know football can be a game of fine margins, but we’re making them razor thin for ourselves, and when you do that, you leave yourself more open to the randomness of football. Unable to cope with a bad decision, a fluky opposition goal, whatever. You can’t control those things though, but how often you put the ball in the back of the net is certainly more within your grasp.

Yesterday was a classic example of that. I think we just about deserved the lead at the break, in large part due to Declan Rice whose first half performance was superb. He had a couple of chances to score before he made it 1-0, and looked our most threatening player by some distance. The pass to him from Martin Odegaard was very nice, and he rounded the keeper and finished well to put us ahead.

Bournemouth had some moments, not least an Evanilson header which he contrived to put over the bar from 8 yards out. That was a let-off. David Raya almost gave them a goal with a wayward pass that Evanilson lobbed over, and the Arsenal keeper did not transmit an aura of calmness and security yesterday, something which became more prevalent in the second half.

You knew we’d need a second goal, at least, to win this game. We became jittery, perhaps minds elsewhere, but also just lacking a bit of common sense. When things aren’t going perfectly on the ball, sometimes you just need to play percentages. We gave it away, we got caught in possession, and Bournemouth smelled blood.

Saka had a chance to make it 2-0 but curled just wide with his right foot, but that was about all we had to offer from an attacking perspective. Their first goal was soft, a long throw from Antoine Semenyo was headed into the far side of the net by Dean Huijsen. Nobody challenged in the air, Raya looked small as he dived (not his fault, but sometimes having a relatively small goalkeeper is exposed). The big issue was the lack of an aerial challenge in the box, and the ease with which we were exposed down our left in the build-up which led to Saliba having to concede the throw.

At that point it felt much more likely they’d score again than we’d find another. There wasn’t a lot on the bench but Mikel Merino and Ethan Nwaneri have 8 and 9 goals each respectively this season. The Spaniard came on in the 74th minute for Rice, Nwaneri got a few Hail Mary minutes at the end as part of a triple sub with a bit-part left-back and player whose loan signing has been little short of a disaster this season.

Their second came from a corner we could probably have avoided conceding, flicked on at the near post and then put in at the back post by Evanilson as Raya fumbled it from close range. I might ask why the job of marking their centre-forward doesn’t go to an actual defender rather than Odegaard, who perhaps could have been stronger. The ball also appeared to go in off the forward’s elbow, but VAR checked and the goal stood. It looks pretty obvious to me, but this is what I mean about how not scoring leaves you exposed to the things you can’t control.

That goal felt pretty typical of our season. Our faults are our own, they are things we have to correct, but a bloke who got sent off last weekend and had his red card overturned so he could play against us scores a winner with his elbow and VAR decides that it can’t decide so the goal is allowed to stand. Another one of those slightly bizarre moments that has gone against us since August.

But that’s an observation, not an excuse. Ultimately, we lost because we were sloppy and careless, and because we don’t score enough goals. That, to my mind at least, is a direct consequence of what we’ve done in the last two transfer windows. It’s not the only factor though. While we’ve had injuries but that starting XI yesterday – more or less as strong as we have – should be able to beat Bournemouth at home. And I say that with a lot of respect for them, because they’re a good team who are very well coached and cause you problems with their high press.

So, while recruitment and lack of firepower is a big issue, I think you need to also look at how we play. I understand the context for this game is quite unique because of what lies ahead on Wednesday, and this squad is probably stretched very thin physically, but this isn’t just a recent issue. 17 games with 0 or 1 goals, 30 points. We’ve won just 3 of our last 10 Premier League games, which is not good enough, and you can’t pin that on a Champions League semi-final.

Afterwards, Arteta spoke about the performance and the result, and said:

Well, we certainly wanted to create a really good vibe, a positive result would really help us to build what we wanted towards Wednesday. So what we have created now is a lot of rage, anger, frustration and a bad feeling in the tummy. So make sure that we use that for Wednesday to have a massive performance in Paris, win the game and be in the final.

You can only hope that focus matters in ways we can’t put our finger on. In the grand scheme of things, yesterday’s game was very end-of-season, and that can play a part in concentration and commitment. Wednesday is an opportunity to do something special, and that has to be reflected in the performance, because if it’s not, it’ll be another ‘nearly’ moment for this team and this manager, something which might be soon seen as our trademark it’s happened that often.

I’ll leave it there for now. Have a great Sunday and you can join us tomorrow for an Arsecast Extra and more.