Painful flashbacks to the capitulations of 12 months ago crossed the minds of Gooners last Sunday, where after Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz and a Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg own goal gave them a seemingly unassailable 3-0 lead over Tottenham, their bitter foes came roaring back.
David Raya and Declan Rice’s blunders allowed Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min to threaten an almighty turnaround, but the latter’s penalty ultimately came too late for the Lilywhites to salvage anything from the heated derby, as Arsenal just about emerged unscathed from that five-goal classic.
Thanks to their latest victory in a game that Saka admitted his side may not have won last year, Arsenal have retained their vulnerable one-point advantage over Manchester City in first place, but owing to the champions’ game in hand, perfection may still not be enough to end their 20-year title drought.
With Liverpool more or less out of the race, though, it is a nerve-jangling straight shootout for glory between Mikel Arteta and his erstwhile employers, who do not play again until Saturday evening and will therefore fall further behind the Gunners if the Emirates giants make it four top-flight wins on the bounce this weekend.
Six of Arsenal’s seven Premier League home matches in 2024 so far have ended in triumph, the outlier being April’s alarming 2-0 loss to Aston Villa, and on the back of being on the right end of a 3-2 scoreline versus Tottenham, it is only appropriate that Arsenal reunite with Bournemouth after last year’s Emirates extravaganza.
Safely marooned in mid-table as the campaign enters its dying embers, Bournemouth followed up their 1-0 beating of Wolves with an emphatic South Coast success against Brighton, where one of Andoni Iraola’s attacking marksmen stole the show.
It was a quiet afternoon for Dominic Solanke at the Vitality Stadium, but Enes Unal shouldered the attacking burden – setting up Marcos Senesi’s opener before heading home himself – and the 3-0 win was rubber-stamped when Justin Kluivert finished off a sweeping counter-attack right at the end.
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Leaving the relegation dogfight well and truly behind, Iraola’s men are smack-bang in the middle of the standings in 10th spot on account of gleaning 48 points – their highest-ever Premier League total – and European qualification remains a mathematical possibility with just three games left to go.
The gap to Newcastle United in seventh and Manchester United in sixth stands at five and six points respectively, although Bournemouth have played a game more than both and face two tricky away days to conclude their campaign, also heading to Chelsea after hosting Brentford on May 11.
The work of Iraola and his coaching staff will not go unnoticed either way, but Bournemouth were demolished 4-0 by Arsenal on home soil back in September and blew a 2-0 lead in this fixture last March, where Reiss Nelson’s 97th-minute winner sparked perhaps the wildest celebrations the Emirates has ever seen.
