Mikel Arteta might be pleased with the result of their first home game of the season in the 4-2 win over Leicester City last weekend but in the same vein, the Spaniard will be furious how his side had allowed Leicester a way back into the game twice.
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Though not so much can be done to avoid the first Leicester City goal but being a very demanding man, Arteta will see they could have done better anyways.
Arsenal have kept just one clean sheet in their last twelve league games and despite looking more assured in defence with the addition of William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko, that is another part Mikel Arteta will look to improve.
Arsenal never conceded in all the preseason games when William Saliba had been on the pitch but unfortunately, the Frenchman was the first to put the ball in his own net against Leicester City.
Mikel Arteta will have his eyes set on a club record when they travel to the Vitality Stadium, home of newly promoted Bournemouth on Saturday evening as a win will see them win their opening three league games for the first time, since the 2004-05 season.
The Gunners have won eight and drawn two against Bournemouth in their last 11 meetings while it was also a visit to the Cherries that Kickstarted Mikel Arteta’s tenure as the new Arsenal manager, in December 2019.
It ended 1-1 in that Boxing day meeting after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goal three minutes after the hour mark canceled out Dan Gosling’s opener.
A lot has changed since that time and they also met once after, with Arsenal winning 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium in the round four of the Emirates FA Cup in the following month of their draw.
Arsenal are also on a run of 19 league games without a draw, their longest since a run of 28 in 1983 while Bournemouth are also yet to draw in each of their last five games, winning four.
Dominic Solanke and Jordan Zemura both missed the 4-0 defeat to Manchester City at the Ethiad last weekend due to an ankle injury and covid respectively and the meeting with Arsenal is likely to come too soon for the two.
Summer signing, Fabio Vieira alongside Emile Smith Rowe and Cedric Soares featured for the Arsenal U-21 in the 2-1 win over Swansea U-21 in the Premier League Cup on Wednesday and the Portuguese might have his first team debut in Bournemouth if things go as planned.
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Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah are the only two players to score against Bournemouth in an Arsenal shirt while Gabriel Jesus has also scored twice against the Cherries while with Manchester City.
For a new look Bournemouth side, it’s a new start against any team they’ll be coming up against after the years spent in the Championship and Scott Parker will hope to write better history this time around.
Bournemouth have beaten Aston Villa 2-0 in their first home game of the season and even though they lost 4-0 at Manchester City, they will still believe their start to the season has been encouraging and manager, Scott Parker be hopeful of taking a result against Arsenal.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
