Bournemouth shocked Arsenal with a 2-0 home victory on Saturday, delivering a severe blow to the Gunners’ Premier League title aspirations.
The match took a dramatic turn when Arsenal were reduced to 10 men after William Saliba was sent off in the 30th minute, following a VAR review that upgraded his yellow card to a straight red.
Despite Arsenal’s attempts to fight back, Bournemouth’s resilience and tactical discipline paid off. Mikel Merino had a chance to put Arsenal ahead in the 35th minute, but his shot narrowly missed the target.
In the 41st minute, Arsenal’s goalkeeper, David Raya, pulled off a brilliant save, denying Marcus Tavernier from close range to keep the score level going into halftime.
Bournemouth capitalised on their numerical advantage in the second half. In the 70th minute, Ryan Christie latched onto a clever pass from Justin Kluivert, firing a sublime shot into the top left corner to put Bournemouth ahead 1-0.
Arsenal’s defence continued to struggle, and just seven minutes later, David Raya fouled Antoine Semenyo in the box, leading to a penalty for Bournemouth.
Kluivert calmly converted the spot-kick, sending Raya the wrong way to make it 2-0.
With Arsenal unable to mount a comeback, Bournemouth held on to secure a famous victory, leaving the Gunners’ Premier League title ambitions in jeopardy.