When Arsenal last played Bournemouth in March, it was a nip-and-tuck affair separated by a last-gasp winner from Reiss Nelson to keep the Gunners’ Premier League title hopes alive. Fast forward six months and you have an entirely different story. Here, Express Sport runs through three things we learned from Arsenal’s 4-0 demolition of Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
Havertz off the mark
Kai Havertz converted from the penalty spot to open his account with the Gunners after 28 games without a goal. Arsenal’s £65million signing appears to be low on confidence but was given a welcome boost at the Vitality Stadium this afternoon.
While Martin Odegaard or Bukayo Saka usually take Arsenal’s penalties, Havertz was pushed forward to take the north Londoners second of the game. After a long run-up and a stutter step, the German midfielder sent Neto the wrong way as he placed the ball into the corner of the Bournemouth goal mouth.
There was relief etched on his face as he celebrated in front of the thousands of travelling fans, who serenaded him for five minutes straight and later gave him a standing ovation as he was replaced by Jorginho in the 80th minute.
Saka injury worry
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Arsenal though. Star winger Bukayo Saka hobbled off the field late in the game. He was initially ruled out of Mikel Arteta’s squad for their trip to the south coast after being forced off against Tottenham last weekend.
Speaking on Friday, Arteta said of Saka: “The assessment is ‘okay, is he fit enough and good enough to be able to be selected tomorrow?’ That’s the question mark and so far he hasn’t trained with the team.” Saka started the game at right wing and opened up the scoring at the quarter-way mark with a brace from close range but was once again sidelined early.
Bournemouth are in for a tough season
Bournemouth have been tipped to go down this season and performances like that won’t do much to help their case. The Cherries didn’t put up much of a fight as they were steam-rolled by last year’s Premier League runners-up.
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