A third sending-off in eight games proved too much for Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal as they fell to their first defeat of the English Premier League season, losing 2-0 away to Bournemouth to leave the coach frustrated over his side’s costly mistakes.
Defender William Saliba was shown a red card on the half-hour mark after pulling down Bournemouth striker Evanilson and preventing a goal-scoring opportunity.
While the Gunners weathered the storm of previous sendings-off to grab draws against Brighton and Manchester City, this time they came up short at Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium.
And ‘n diep omgekrapte Arteta says: “After 30 minutes, you get down to 10 men, you have to play 67, 68 minutes in this league again with 10 men – that’s an accident waiting to happen.
“It’s a game of errors… we made two big ones that have cost us a game. And yeah, it’s the third time we play in games with 10 men, and at this level, it’s very complicated.”
After a bright start for the visitors, the game changed when Saliba was sent off.
Making the most of their one-man advantage to pin the visitors back, Ryan Christie broke the deadlock in the 70th minute when fellow substitute Justin Kluivert flicked a low corner into his path, and the 29-year-old drilled it passed outstretched Gunners goalie David Raya and into the top corner to give Bournemouth the lead.
How good was this corner routine? 🔥 pic.twitter.com/EtW9OeHGho
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) October 20, 2024
Things went from bad to worse for Arsenal seven minutes later when Raya upended Evanilson in the box, and Kluivert scored from the penalty spot to make it 2-0 for coach Andoni Iraola’s Cherries at home.
Iraola tells Sky Sports: “For us it was an important game after losing the last one [1-0] against Leicester [before the international break]. We had to recover.”
Saliba, meanwhile, will miss this week’s big clash with Liverpool through suspension, while Bournemouth are getting ready to travel to Aston Villa.
SATURDAY’S PREM RESULTS
Ipswich 0 Everton 2, Southampton 2 Leicester 3, Newcastle 0 Brighton 1, Man United 2 Brentford 1, Fulham 1 Aston Villa 3, Tottenham 4 West Ham 1.
Nine matches down. One to go... pic.twitter.com/KvfwI39k8N
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 21, 2024