Arsenal have clinched the 3-2 win deep into injury time against Bournemouth, coming back from a 2-0 deficit.
It couldn’t have been a worse start for the Gunners, with Phillip Billing scoring within 10 seconds of the kick-off. The second quickest goal in Premier League history came three touches from kick-off, with the ball played wide before being played into the heart of the Arsenal goal, with our defenders failing to clear before if fell to Billing to place home.
The game quickly became one-way traffic, with our side having to overcome a Burnley-style low block, but we were unable to find the space in the box to make our possession pay in the opening half.
Leandro Trossard was an early casualty, with Emile Smith Rowe coming on to replace him which gave our fans mixed emotions, but the latter’s display wasn’t the dream return we had hoped for, and he was later replaced by Reiss Nelson.
After the break, the game came to life when we conceded our second of the game thanks to a Senesi header, but we hit back almost immediately through Thomas Partey, and another five minutes later and we were on level terms, with 20 minutes remaining on the clock to chase all three points.
We continued to pile on the pressure in the final third, challenging the focus of the Cherries’ backline, and despite getting deep into their half to whip balls into the box, we just couldn’t find that final touch to get ourselves ahead.
After an agonising last few minutes where we came so close, but couldn’t find that goal, Reiss Nelson came up with our winner deep into injury time to seal all three points and a huge victory in regards to our title hopes.
Patrick
Im in shock. Thought it was over. THANK YOU NELSON!!!!
The best come back win in over a decade
What a win!. Congratulations Gunners!
I had completely forgotten about Nelson. Was really surprised that he was coming on. Good thing!
Seems we are making this habit.
My concern is soon we will find ourselves in a situation we can’t get out of against a better team.
We therefore need to address these problems that keep creeping in.
This is the PL, anything can happen, Brentford beat City at their ground, and they also thrashed Man Utd at home, the problems are everyday ones. We have beaten Man Utd, Liverpool, Spurs twice, and Chelsea. You should understand this a young team led by a young manager in a situation they have never been in before, mistakes happen, it is called a learning
curve and Arteta’s subs were spot on, both scored and one assist. The problems are being addressed top of the league with 12 games to go is proof of how good we are
Our defense was awful, luckily Nelson was excellent today. Give that boy a new contract soon! He’s the best competitor for Martinelli for the LW role
Saliva was good
Gain average and at fault for the first
Tomi and zinchenko poor defensively
Bournemouth’s first goal happened because of Magalhaes’ mistake
Smith-Rowe should’ve played CF, because he doesn’t dribble as good as Martinelli and Nelson. Fortunately, Arteta realized his mistake and replaced Smith-Rowe with Nelson
You are spot on there Nelson was way more effective, hope this dosen’t damage Smith Rowe confidence
The kid is a little rusty in my opinion
Smith Rowe got minutes under his belt and an assist
The defending by Arsenal for the first two goals, particularly the first, was abysmal. Players standing off from tackles and ball watching. This needs to be brought back to the previous Arsenal season standard quickly, with the games coming up.
A new film…’Miracle on Ashbuton Grove’. Heart attack game. VAR a disgrace though. Totally corrupt.
VAR has no shame, why even have the handball rule when it seems to always get excused.
Hands and arms away from the body, miss a header hits your arm, not a penalty. Absolute rot in VAR booth.
New rule should be to relegate officials in booth and on pitch. Expect more shambles until these people have consequences and penalties.
Clubs, managers, players, even fans have consequences for actions, yet officials are untouchable.
Also Bournemouth had 2 players in our half from the kickoff for their first goal as well, possibly shouldn’t have stood.
I agree with you on this..
How come Bournemouth’s players can be in Arsenal territory before kick off??
Been on the receiving end of awful VAR decisions all season but a well known Talksport presenter tried to insinuate that we have lucked our way to leading the PL 🙄
Today VAR decision should put that argument to bed
VAR also missed the punch aimed at Ben White from a Bournemouth player on one of the corners, just because it missed , the intent is there, we have to accept VAR will do us no favours, it is run along with the refs by Fergie’s rent boy Coward Webb
Basic rules of football totally ignored. There is no wonder English FA referees dont get invited to officiate at major tournaments.
My word
Please Dan, stop predicting easy win for us again. There’s usually nerve after your prediction of easy win. Lol
COYG
Please
And To All Arsenal Fans Too
Haven’t You Guys Noticed We Have Problems After Being Too Proud And Saying A Match Is Easy
I saïd before the game stop this arrogant behaviour of calling teams “easy”….WE cameback from dead today
There are no easy games in the EPL, particularly later in the season, when teams like Bournemouth are fighting for their lives to avoid relegation.
What does team need to do more to make you believe? As soon as we concede ppl our own supporters here start putting us down as title winners. Come on guys, we can always discuss our faults and critize after the game but be positive and behind team when they are playing. Thank GOD its not like this in stadium and that support from in stadium fans is doing this team to do wonders. Never give up
This! And then they said praising the same team when it’s a win.
Trust me, if we go down again in this next game, they will get all negative again, until we score. For many here, it’s all about when we win, anything else and they begin to act like kids. They are only fans for the good days and the wins.
Still in shock. This is our year
Forget about the game at Villa Park, this is the game of the season
Destiny Gunsmoke
I don’t like this but this team reminds me of Sir Alex’s Man U
Never say die
As much as I hate to say it, I strongly agree
Yes, a win in “Artie Time” 🙂
It’s not really a utd thing (it’s just linked with them and ferguson because they were at or close to the top for so long!). Wenger’s best sides used to do it as well. It’s something you see in all sides that are fighting for a title. If you don’t have that ‘never say die’ attitude, you can’t win it!
George Graham’s team having to go away to Anfield and win 2-0 or better against Liverpool FC to win the title will take some beating.
Agree best game ever for me , up turned the furniture that day in my house.
We were so many clear at one stage then Liverpool went unbeaten till there last game from the new year , and we won it with the added time put on for there moaning about the 1st goal lol.
What a friday night that was.
Agree…..The Man U of the 90’s
@ Oyama
Wow!!……we won….I gave up only to find out we won……this Arsenal team is destined to win the league title……,they can sniff it but remain calm and going game by game. Impressive.
😆😆😆😆
Well done to our guys.
Fantastic but I’m gonna have a heart attack b4 end of season.
Love you my gunners .
Too many average players today
Viera non existent
Party made some simple mistakes for the goal
Smith Rowe is still off the pace and agreed tomi to go off
But a win is a win at this stage
Please
Nobody Castigates Viera More Than Me
But Today
He Was Great
As In, He Played With Utter Determination Like The Rest Of The Team
I Saw His Physicality Letting Him Down, He Beats One Man But Struggles To Beat The Next – But He Played His Heart Today
Then Don’t Just Go-On About Partey
I Watched A Monster Today
There Was A Point He Was Collecting The Balls From Off The Opponents Like They Were Kids
This Match Was Extreme HardCore
Viera, not good enough!!!! Non existent.
Partey knuckled down after that and was in my view Arsenal’s best player after that.
A bit tough on ESR when it was his first game, after such a long time out with injury.
Agree on Viera; in need of extra time in the gym to strengthen up and loan spell for consistent game time.
I have decided to watch our games in a hospital for rest of the season just in case I have a heart attack. Insane, just insane.
I hear you brother.. Absolutely mental..
We are playing against referees as well. 4-5 VAR calls and NONE given. That’s disgusting.
Lord Nelson should be made an Admiral of the Emirates. How amazing!!!!
A Season defining moment Nelson’s goal ,that could be the difference in coming first or second ,great moment unfortunately my stream went offline 2 mins to go so didn’t actually get to see it 🙄.
What I did see was an amazing effort to get back into the game and pinch those points ,I thought Nelson was our best player when he got on and happy he scored that winner .
Well done all 👏
👍Dan. Very pleased for Reiss Nelson, a Hale End graduate with great talent, who hopefully can now have a run free of injury.
It is great to see so many young players with long term tenure at Arsenal coming through the system. Certainly saves transfer fees.
With spurs losing, that’s St totteringhams day and champions league all but guaranteed…. we’d need to lose half remaining matches with Spurs or Newcastle winning 12/14 in a row. COYG!!! Nelson you beauty!!!!
Lmao what the Fck as that got to do with the game Kev .
Arteta needs to coach these guys on how to take accurate shots from outside the box.
Odegaard and Martinelli were awful today. Especially, Martinelli he was just blowing everything over the bar. Time for him to rest. Nelson I here!
Plus we need to work our defense. Still shocked by Tomi’s showing in the last few games he’s come and Zinchenko? We were lucky he didn’t give away a goal. Very poor defensively.
Hope things improve against the next weekend.
*Nelson is here!
@Twinlights really, I guess Martineli and Odegaard were just in a hurry to get us back in the game, besides Martineli does more than just scoring, his defensive addition is without doubts, his ball caring skills,
Let’s just get behind the team .
Thank God you’re not the Manager. You’ll just discard any player at any opportunity. It’s like most of you never played football before in your lives.
Odegaard did bring out one excellent save from the goalkeeper; however there is no doubt that the goal conversion from shots taken greatly needs improvement.
Your right John0711, Vierra should never start in the league again this season. Partey had his usual hit and miss passing game but was massive at winning the ball back. ESR was unlucky to be subbed but he is not a winger and it was a genius move to bring Nelson on. So many talking points that it’s hard to get perspective. One thing for certain, had those hand ball calls been at Arsenal’s end we would have had a penalty against us. Still bursting with pride so at 4.00am here in Australia it’s going to be impossible to get to sleep.
It was an amazing game, thought Aston villa’s game was the thing, today’s game was something to remember for a very long time. I almost injured myself,leaping for joy when Nelson scored.
I hope we win the league, Arteta and the boys deserve it.
We are the champiooons! We are the champiooons!
Stand up stand up for the champions stand up!
HH, long way to go; remain modest and take one game at a time.
One thing for sure you won’t see the gaffer trying any form of rotation again in the league.
Tbf to the likes of Viera and Tomiyasu they hardly get minutes so it’s expected they lack match sharpness and maybe a bit of confidence. The EL will help with that same for Tierney.
Agree, we got to find away for these guys to see more action.
Am hoping it hasn’t affects Smith Rowe confidence, am taken aback by Nelson performance, he made an extremely mature input, he was clever and there was urgency
about him and for a lad that hadn’t seen much action.
Now that Tossard is out surely he has to get another bite at the cherry
Moot points? not really!
Can anyone please explain how are the two handballs not penalties!
Someone who hasn’t been mentioned a lot today is William Saliba. He was so strong defensively and demonstrated another side of his game in the second half by pushing forward more and making some important early deliveries. His reaction after Ben White’s goal also tells us that he is as committed to the Arsenal cause as anyone. I’m sure his coach would have noted all this.
👍
I totally disagree about Vieira he was pretty good sure lacks some physicality but he won a lot of balls back when he or another player lost possession and actually took up decent positions in the box. The whole team struggled with poor crosses/shots and decision making today but even Saka had a worse game than Vieira. I am so happy for Reiss he is the reason we have won two games (the Forrest game too). Fingers crossed Reiss and Smith-Rowe stay injury free so Bukayo can get a rest. Reiss in particular might be our bet in terms of crossing the ball not just from this game but what I have seen before. Hope he at least gets a one year deal but I am hoping for a much longer stay for him.
I’m looking forward to St Totteringham’s Day. The beauty of this celebration this season is that We will celebrate it as the EPL champions.
This gave shows why Arteta was not willing to rotate. Tomi is in a bad form, and Viera is not suited for PL.
Hopefully, he will rotate massively in EL, giving rest to 9-10 PL starters, and keeping Saka and Partey off the squad. Ans no more rotation in PL, we don’t have the quality to do that.
With Jesus back we can have the extra push for the title.
If we draw away at Liverpool, Newcastle, and City and win the rest we are champions. If City drops points we can afford to lose to them.
Don’t rotate, and throw in rusty players in to perform miracles when the starters get injured or suspended, end then call for Mikel’s head for not rotating!
NELSON IS AMAZING EVERY TIME GE COMES ON. HE MUST KEEP HIS PLACE IN THE SQUAD.
The current handball rule is ruining the game.With regard to our win, the spirit displayed by the players was terrific and Nelson with an assist and wonderful goal showed what a talented lad he can be.The less said about the goals conceded the better,but sufficient to say our defensive players will have to sharpen up if we are to stay at the top.With two attacking midfielders selected , a weight of responsibility fell on TP who unfortunately was caught napping twice, although Gabriel too ought to have done better at the first goal.At the end of the day a great result, and I hope Trossard and Nketiah are fit to resume next week.The fact that Nelson, ESR and Vieira got some game time can only stand them in good stead
@OxinTheBox how much rotation happened in the Villa game. Bukayo’s last few performances but especially today show that he needs a rest. As we see with Trossard getting injured how are these other players ever going to step up if Ode gets injured for example. I saw Vieira’s performance differently he did better than Marti or Saka but overall he was not the reason why we were losing. Granit has recently looked jaded being in his 30s and having world cup in the middle of the season. With Europa games coming it will be two games every week there is no way any first eleven can play all those without resting or getting injured. I will trust Arteta he knows better than any of us armchair coaches.
that is why I say in EL we need to play with the second 11.
I agree with you except to say that saka has been incredible recently (almost carried our attack on some games tbh), and martinelli was fantastic in the last match.
Just when we needed someone else to step up Reiss Nelson does it again! So happy for him – despite his injuries, he’s made an enormous impact on two games already this season!
Martinelli poached two goals otherwise he is in terrible form, can’t win 1v1s, has terrible decision-making, and destroys a lot of promising attacks.
Even today he was poor, and in the begining of the second half destroyed a good attack by shooting an hail Merry instead of putting Saka in front of the goal.
Maybe Nelson should replace him for a while.
Arsenal pls, on no account should we be conceding goals after just 10 seconds. It’s unacceptable.
We played without a striker, yet scored 3goals. That’s nice…
Meanwhile, how many handballs before we get a Penalty decision? Shame on VAR!
Arteta, has really grown on the job. He makes better substitutions now . Personally, I think Reiss Nelson seems better on the left wing, than on the right.
This team doesn’t give up easily!
26 down, 12 more to go!
Notes taken after today’s match
1. Martinelli isn’t a good cf, he holds on too long to the ball which in turn affects his reasoning which makes him make a lot of bad decisions.
2. Saka and Odegaard NEEDS a rest
3 . Smith Rowe should be eased into the first team not rushed in , hope we don’t have another Wilshere in our hands.
4. Riess Neilson should be given a chance in the starting line up now that Trossard and Nketiah are injured .
5. We need a striker , a proper number 9.
Thank you Nielson for that Man of the match performance. 1 assist , 1 goal.
Martinelli in not a center forward, not in a million years.
Reggirze You are extremely determined in saying he is NOT a CF, consistently.
I say you cannot possible be SO sure , given that he has hardly ever played there.
My head tells me that a player who has scored eleven goals, even while playing wide, has shown he has goal scoring ability.
Though I do not say he is definitely a CF in the making , I say there is no truthful , non personal agenda way, you can possible be so sure that he is not.
Such evidence as we have, leans towards him being a natural scorer, IF given the chance to play CF.
@Reggie, so what do you advice ?
IMO, Martineli offers more as a CF/attacker than Nketiah could ever offer,
He’s defensive efforts are better than Nketiah’s, even his holdup play,
We have a better chance at goal with Martineli.
EA, 👍
What a fantastic comeback by Arsenal in a match that became very difficult due to a hopeless start to the match. Down 0-2 due to inattention in defence. For a top team, this just can’t happen. There is room for improvement here. It could have looked even worse had Ramsdale not had a world-class save on a 100 per cent chance for Bournemouth. Credit to Arsenal for constantly believing in it and putting maximum pressure on Bournemouth. Two good substitutions in White and Nelson. Reiss Nelson barely put a foot wrong and made a fine assist. Nelson had a good eye for his teammates and played a good second half. I’m happy that we kept him. And what a great finish at the end where Nelson hits the ball perfectly. What a goal by a player who has been out with injuries for so long. Arsenal are still solid leaders, but this match is proof that the bottom teams are particularly dangerous at this time of the season. There are no easy games left. Arsenal must be careful not to underestimate any opponent at all.
We were caught napping at the start of the match, think we expecting a double decker bus to park in front of us.
We were shocked into action, luckily the rotation was fairly limited.
We have been conceding too many goals at home this season. This is ridiculous:
13th defence at home – 16 goals conceded
1st away – 9 goals
Yes we have the firepower to compensate but sooner or later it will cost us vital pts.
Reiss Nelson
85 min played
3 goals
2 assists
We really need to extend him as he will be a low risk investment. If his fitness issues persist- a small loss but if he shakes off his recurrent injuries – a massive gain.
Ackshay 👍
Because Gabriel makes too many mistakes. Bournemouth first goal is his fault.
Nelson does better on the left, Arteta bringing in Nelson was awesome, anyone would have thought Nketiah was the next sub,
It was indeed a superb match.
Nketiah was not in the matchday squad due to injury.
We dont want another game like that. It was too stressful!!!!!!!. Not a fan but Nelson really changed the game on the plus side. On the minus why oh why did we start with the totally ineffective Viera!!!!!!!!! Great 3 points but we cant keep playing like that.
Good points Ackshay have to tighten up at home but lets not forget VAR should not have allowed the first to stand and the Brenford goal. On the other end we have been denied more penalties or goals by VAR than any of the other contenders going back to last season and probably beyond. I reckon the overall form is enough to win with a little luck with injuries and VAR doing its job properly. For sure we probably get some lucky decisions but I will have to dig it up there is an independent entity that has been keeping track of these decisions and of the top clubs Arsenal has lost the most points.
By the way the referee did well to give us all the allotted injury time. Sure it his job but many other referees would not have allowed us that last corner kick.
ALL he did was to rightly allow the correct injury time, given that Bournemouth had an injury DURING the extra time allotted.
Not especially praiseworthy, but simply what ought to and DID happen. Simply a ref doing his job correctly, for once!
Congratulations boys. But let me state that Arteta should as a matter of fact be careful in choosing his team. Why would he play Viera ahead of Jorginho?. This is not the time for experiment. Any team in EPL can beat team. Arteta should stop under rating his opponents. And he should stop prioritizing any competition over order.
Finally,
Arteta has been itching to get Viera in and i can not for the life of me see why. Yes rest xhaka but the obvious player to come in would be Jorghino. Its been a long while since i have seen a player at Arsenal, so far out of his depth than Viera. Its like playing with 10 men, when he is on, very poor.
HG and Reggie👍. Jorginho has been in good form, so deserved a run of games. Hopefully he is not carrying an injury.
Great winning mentality, and we are going to fight for the trophy all the way. The ability to never give up belongs to champions 🔴⚪️🫶
True but also the ability to defend belongs to champions first.
11 clean sheets from 26 games, joint second on goals conceded, our defence is not a big issue, but room for improvement….-
Its been wide open and poor this year.
When playing offensive football with so many players involved there’s always a risk to expose yourself. We have a young team with huge potential and there’s always room for improvement.
The manager and the team was great today – mentality monsters!
Nothing wrong with Vieira and Tomiyasu playing. They were not the reason we went 2-0 down. Better they get minutes now than when Arteta is forced to play them. They were rusty and that is to be expected. Vieira in particular did play well. Fans are so quick to want to eat their cake and have it. Xhaka and White needed a break.
Nelson needs a new contract. Finally, there are under-21 strikers who can train with the team all next week and be ready for the bench and possibly game time if needed. All hands need to be on deck – this team is one of destiny!
I think the two on one save Ramsdale had was a moment of magic that kept us in the match.
Some great saves by both goalkeepers. Ramsdale continues to improve. Has proven a bargain buy, despite my original reservations! Glad to be proven wrong.
OG, I suggest he is agreat deal MORE than simply a bargain buy. I say he was an excellent and necessary buy who has already PROVEN to be a massive success. Credit, and proper credit, where it is due, is my opinion.
jon, by “bargain buy” I meant he was worth every penny and more that Arsenal paid for him, based on his performances this season. He has proved my original assessment wrong!
We won but agenda against us from PGMOL continues it will be swept under carpet because we won,if we dont score clean cut goals we will be under VAR microscope
We won but agenda against us from PGMOL continues it will be swept under carpet because we won,if we dont score clean cut goals we will be under VAR microscope…
Speaking as a retired referee, I can tell you that none of understands hand ball. The language of the Laws off the Game uses the phrase ” deliberately handles the ball”. We can’t read their minds but much as I would have preferred to feel we were hard done by, I would have made the same non-call.
DS, I suggest we ALL- “all” being ex refs AND non ex refs- that the present way handball is decided is a farce and a lottery.
I am in the sensible minority who have NEVER thought refs actually set out to cheat us But what has been abundantly clear is that we ought to return to the days when handball simply meant hand to ball and NOT, EVER, BALL TO HAND. IT WAS SIMPLE AND UNCONTROVERSIAL BACK THAN AND WORKED WELL.
Foolishly ,the interpretationof a law that once worked well, has been allowed to change . And in so doing ,it has become a farce.
It needs to return to hand ball meaning ONLY hand to ball and NOT ball to hand.
I’ve watched football for some twenty something years and I think ,in all that time there has always been such a things as ball to hand which is deemed as not a foul and the hand to ball which clearly is adjudged a foul. However I do hear things like the hand not being in an unnatural position these days that I never used to hear before, which I still think could be interpreted as ball to hand. As for the Bournemouth game, I understand how us fans would really have loved one of those penalty calls to go our way, seeing as we were trailing at the time but I feel none of those was as clearcut as we deemed.
Am rather glad we did our comeback unmared by any controversial calls..
coyg
Correct.
You’re right Donald. I’ve re-watched all of those VAR calls and can now see that VAR was correct in denying the lot (even the ones that I originally thought were incorrect), but you’ll never convince the dribbling “PGMOL is corrupt” mob that seems to have crossed from the conspiracy blog.
Jax am i allowed to have my opinion?
I stand my statement PGMOL Wont let arsenal win the league ,the only way us winning it its by scoring clean cut goals that dont warrant var reviews because they will find any excuse to disallow it ,am i not from any conspiracy blogs i watch all of our games i can make my own mind up ,i see it every game ,we are winning games .you will be singing different tune if we were losing
Not quite Donald: “The handball is only recognised as an offense when its either deliberate or when the arm/hand is positioned in a manner that extends the size of the player’s body.”
We see plenty of unintentional handballs given in the game.
By the way, after watching all the post match reviews available on YouTube, there was not one pundit or commentator who mentioned the four hand balls not reviewed by VAR. Silly me thought each team was only allowed one goal keeper.
Maybe we were watching a different game?
That was crazy. What a game. What a result. Love it.
I thought I would mention the save in the first half that Ramdale did, FANTASTIC but the way after when the Bournemouth players surrounded the Arsenal players for not kicking the ball out as one of their players was injured was disgraceful as they didn’t do it themselves. Great credit to all especially the fans yesterday 👏
Yeah, as if they expected us to stop a good attacking situation. I don’t remember it happening the other way around though.
Very crazy reaction really. They continued the attack regardless of there their player being down, now they want us to stop when we countered the attack in the same play. So annoying .
Thanks you gunners for a job weldone but I almost have heartache….
Thanks for not giving up….. COYG….