Report: Arsenal 1-0 Bournemouth

It has to be said, we held on for all three points at The Emirates on Sunday afternoon, a win which sees us quietly sneak up into third place, just a point behind moneybags Man City.

David Luiz scored the only goal of the game, his first for the club, directing a neat header past the Bournemouth keeper in the first half. We also hit the post late on, in a move which looked offside, but thanks to some very late life-saving tackles and blocks by Chambers and Guendouzi we won the game, just.

Pepe started the game, and despite not getting on the scoresheet, he crossed the corner onto Luiz’ head for the goal on nine minutes and should have had a penalty when he was clearly upended in the box, VAR inexplicably ruling it as a non-foul. He also went close to scoring in the first half, but saw his curling effort sail just past the post.

Leno played well in goal, but Guendouzi and Chambers were the standout performers for Arsenal, while Pepe looked good, Aubameyang looked tired and will no doubt be looking forward to the inter(lull)national break.

Once that’s done and dusted, we’ll face Sheffield United away then Palace at home the following weekend where we’ll hopefully welcome back Alexandre Lacazette and start using our returning defenders Holding, Tierney and Bellerin.

We really should be putting these teams to the sword, especially at home instead we are labouring to narrow wins, Villa at home being another example. We really need to start to find our creative spark as we won’t be as lucky to hold on against better attacking sides.