Arsenal 3 Bournemouth 0: Gunners go clear of Man City after controversial penalty and disallowed goal
ARSENAL survived second-half scares to keep their title bid right on track.
Although the Gunners totally dominated the first 45 minutes, they had only Bukayo Saka’s penalty to show for it.
The win put them four points clear of Manchester City – until Pep Guardiola’s men thumped Wolves 5-1 hours later.
Bournemouth were better after the break yet the game seemed over when Leandro Trossard grabbed a second.
But the Cherries thought they had pulled one back immediately through Antoine Semenyo, only for VAR Peter Bankes to back referee David Coote’s original decision to blow for a foul against Dominic Solanke.
Declan Rice put the seal on victory with a stoppage-time third and overall the visitors could have no complaints about their defeat.
Goalkeeper Mark Travers kept Bournemouth in the game in the opening 45 minutes with a string of saves from Kai Havertz, William Saliba, Saka and Thomas Partey.
When Travers was beaten by a Takehiro Tomiyasu header from a corner, his defence smuggled the ball off the line.
Rice had just missed the best chance of the lot when Arsenal finally made the breakthrough.
Martin Odegaard’s fine through ball found Havertz and although the German was looking for contact, there was no denying that Travers tripped him.
Saka stroked the ball home with ease.
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After Travers denied Saka and Havertz soon after the break, Solanke forced Raya into his first save.
And although Bournemouth looked more dangerous, they fell further behind when Rice teed up Trossard.
Then came the biggest moment of controversy.
Solanke seemed to do little wrong before Raya got a weak punch on Tomiyasu’s skied clearance.
Ryan Christie’s initial shot came back off the crossbar and Semenyo forced home the rebound via a deflection.
After a long review, Bankes backed on-field colleague Coote.
Mikel Arteta's striker shopping list
By Jordan Davies
ARSENAL are stepping up plans to sign a world-class striker in the summer after their Champions League heartbreak.
Mikel Arteta splashed out £204.5m last summer on Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber.
But the Spanish manager accepts he needs a proven goalscorer to take the club to the next level.
And here are the players he is looking at to get the Gunners firing:
BENJAMIN SESKO (RB Leipzig, value £40m-£45m)
One for the future at 20 years old. Scored 16 goals for RB Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga last season and the Slovenian has carried on that good form in Germany with Leipzig this campaign.
VIKTOR GYOKERES (Sporting Lisbon, value £60m-£80m)
Been scouted several times this season. The Swedish striker, 25, is more of a traditional No 9 so may not suit Arsenal’s demand for flexibility but would bring a physicality that boss Mikel Arteta craves.
ALEXANDER ISAK (Newcastle, value £75m-£85m)
Impressed in his first two seasons in English football. The Swede, 24, has the pace and finesse to match his finishing ability, and Eddie Howe’s Toon may need to sell to balance the books this summer.
JOSHUA ZIRKZEE (Bologna, value £45m-£50m)
Dutch wonder is attracting the attentions of clubs across Europe. At 6ft 4in the 22-year-old forward would have no trouble adapting to the Premier League and already has an eye for goal.
XAVI SIMONS (RB Leipzig, value £70m-£80m)
An incredible talent in the Bukayo Saka mould, currently on loan from Paris Saint-Germain. The future of the Dutch attacker, 20, depends on how much money his parent club want to make from him.
It was arguably Bankes’ second bad call after the day, after Christie had got away with a nasty challenge on Saka early in the game.
It was enough to take a chunk out of the winger’s leg but not to persuade the VAR to ask Coote to take a closer look.
Bournemouth will feel aggrieved they did not have the chance to test Arsenal’s nerve late on, as Spurs the previous weekend.
Gabriel had a good disallowed for offside but Rice fired home from a narrow angle deep into stoppage time.
In the end the Gunners well deserved their victory as they moved four points clear of Manchester City ahead of the reigning champions teatime kick-off.
I used to give Declan Rice compliments on the football pitch… I couldn’t help myself, says Troy Deeney
By Troy Deeney
THERE are certain people that you come across in football and you know instantly who they are, what they’re about and what the trajectory of their life is going to be.
Anyone who has worked or grown up with Declan Rice knows that he has always been destined for the top.
When he was at West Ham, he was a centre-half who played in midfield purely to help out and ended up excelling.
The way he used to listen and learn from his old captain Mark Noble and be a student of the game was second to none.
And because of that, whenever I interacted with him on a football pitch, I never felt the need to be disrespectful towards him because there was just a pure will to win.
We would tell each other to ‘do one’ every now and again but then I would get these weird moments when he would do something special and I couldn’t help but say, ‘Good touch, mate’.
He had this joyful atmosphere around him which you can see in all of his interviews, even now at Arsenal. You never see him get in trouble, being outlandish, but he has that jokey personality.
He is still quite kiddish at 25, yet with a very serious body and mind in terms of being the best player he can be.
When he was announced as England captain against Belgium, there was no outrage, no shock or surprise or, ‘Why him?’. It was more a sense of, ‘Yeah, that makes sense’.
There is no doubt in my mind that he is in line to take the armband for his country full-time after Harry Kane moves on, alongside his midfield partner Jude Bellingham.
Read Troy Deeney’s column in full.