After beating Everton on Wednesday, we’re back in action on home turf on Saturday against Bournemouth, who have lost on all six of their previous visits to N5.
Gary O'Neil’s team currently sit in 19th position having won just once in their last 10 games, and while that victory did come on their travels against Wolves two weeks ago, the Cherries haven't won consecutive Premier League away games since October 2018.
Meanwhile we’ll be aiming to claim a fourth-straight win to maintain the cushion we have built up at the top of the league, boosted by knowing we've claimed all three points in each of our last eight matches against newly-promoted clubs.
World Cup ruins Cherries momentum
After Scott Parker lost his job just four games into the campaign, O’Neil stepped into the breach and picked up 10 points from an unbeaten first six games to lift them into the top half and get the managerial job full-time.
However, things have been a different story since the World Cup. No team has won fewer than the five points the Cherries have collected since, nor scored fewer than their four goals. That, coupled with the fact Bournemouth have conceded a league-high 48 goals, saw them slip into the relegation zone for the first time towards the end of January.
A recruitment drive saw nearly £75 million spent on strikers Dango Ouattara and Antoine Semenyo from Lorient and Bristol City respectively, as well as Dynamo Kyiv centre-back Illya Zabarnyi, with last month seeing them lose to Brighton, draw with Newcastle United and beat Wolves before a 4-1 loss against Manchester City, leaving them one point from safety.
What the managers say
Arteta on Bournemouth: “I’m really impressed by what they are doing. They are really aggressive, they haven’t conceded many in those [previous four] games and they could have had different results in two of those. Against Man City, [City] showed some quality when they opened up, when finishing the actions to make the score really big, but it was a really competitive match again.
“I’ve known [O’Neil] for many years because we’ve been in the league together, and I’ve been really impressed with what he’s done throughout his career and the way he approaches every game, the way he sets the team and what the team is doing right now." - watch all of Mikel's pre-match press conference
O’Neil: “Everyone around us will already have it down as Arsenal three points and Bournemouth zero. But we go there to win a game of football and cause them problems. If we can spin that and cause a shock, it adds to our points - but also does damage to those around us.
“It is the toughest place to go and the biggest test you can face. It is no surprise they are where they are, so we will try to be organised, stick to our plan and use ways that we hope can hurt them."
Team news
Arteta has admitted that Jorginho will be OK to play after struggling with illness during the win against Everton in midweek.
Eddie Nketiah also limped off at the end of that game with a knock although Arteta played down concerns it was too serious, while Gabriel Jesus and Mohamed Elneny remain out.
Bournemouth’s packed treatment room continues to be busy, with Marcus Tavernier recently picking up a hamstring injury and looks set for a spell on the sidelines, while January recruits left-back Matias Vina and Zabarnyi are out with knee and ankle issues respectively.
Junior Stanislas missed the Manchester City game last week with a knock, while David Brookes is nearing a return after 18 months on the sidelines but isn’t in contention just yet. Lloyd Kelly (calf) will also be missing, but they are boosted by the return of Lewis Cook who has been out since January with a knee complaint.
Talking tactics
Michael Cox, writing in the official matchday programme: O’Neil likes his side to sit deep, before springing forward on the break. In terms of formation, his general approach is a 4-4-1-1 but against strong opposition, he’s often shifted to a five-man defence, although Bournemouth’s record with that system is poor.
Bournemouth have lacked consistency at the back, with Chris Mepham, Marcos Senesi, Lloyd Kelly and Jack Stephens all recently starting matches. Adam Smith is a regular down the right, while Jordan Zemura has impressed in recent weeks with his attacking quality from left-back.
The central midfield duo comprises Jefferson Lerma, a tough-tackling central midfielder with a good passing range, with the exciting Phillip Biling, whose attacking threat has seen O’Neil deploy him at the top of the midfield triangle.
However, competition for places in attack have increased since the arrival of the exciting Hamed Traore [above] and the speedy Antoine Semenyo. Jaidon Anthony has a good relationship with fellow academy graduate Zemura down the left, and on the other flank, Dango Ouattara has impressed. Dominic Solanke is still likely to lead the line, and can also drop deep to link play.
Facts and stats
We have won all six of our home games against Bournemouth in all competitions, by an aggregate score of 17-2. Only against Gainsborough Trinity (8/8) do we have a better 100 per cent win record at home.
Bournemouth have never kept a Premier League clean sheet against us, winning just one of our 11 meetings with them in the competition (D2 L8).
Since losing 2-0 to Brentford on the opening day last season, we have won our last eight Premier League meetings with promoted sides. We last had a longer winning run between January 2002 and February 2003 (9).
We have lost just one of our last 32 home league games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday (W25 D6), going down 2-1 against Brighton in April last season.
Martin Odegaard has been involved in seven goals in his last six Premier League games against promoted sides, scoring five and assisting two. He's netted in all three such games this season, including a brace at Bournemouth in the reverse fixture.
With four goals and three assists, Bukayo Saka has been involved in seven goals in his last six Premier League appearances against promoted sides. However, the only game in this run in which he didn't score or assist a goal was the Gunners' 3-0 win at Bournemouth in August.
Match officials
Chris Kavanagh will take charge of one of our games for just the second time this campaign, with his last coming at Leeds United where we won 1-0 in November. We have won eight and drawn two of the 15 matches he has officiated.
This is just his sixth Premier League appointment this season and he is yet to take charge of a Bournemouth game, but he was the man in the middle for our 5-1 home success against the Cherries back in February 2019.
- Referee: Chris Kavanagh
- Assistant Referee 1: Neil Davies
- Assistant Referee 2: Constantine Hatzidakis
- Fourth Official: Andre Marriner
- VAR: John Brooks
- Assistant VAR: Mark Scholes
Recent visits from Bournemouth
We have all six of our home meetings with the Cherries, five of which have come in the past seven seasons. The last time they appeared at Emirates Stadium was back in October 2019, as David Luiz’s first Gunners goal saw us claim a 1-0 victory.
The previous February we recorded a 5-1 success thanks to goals from Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Laurent Koscielny, Pierre-Emerick Aubayeng and Alexandre Lacazette, while there were 3-0 and 3-1 wins in the previous two campaigns.
Watch some of our best results against the Cherries in our playlist
Breakdown Live
Tune in from 2pm on Saturday to see DJ Sherelle and comedian Alexis Guerreros chat to Nick Bright and Adrian Clarke in the box at Emirates Stadium, who will also be joined by boxer John Ryder while indy wrestler and WhatCulture presenter Simon Miller will be in the studio audience. They'll also chat to choreographer Sherrie Silver and poet Natasha Muhoza pitchside as the teams warm up for the game.
There will be analysis of our midweek game against Everton, as well as how we can rack up a fourth-straight win at the expense of the Cherries.
Then from 3pm, Dan Roebuck and Nigel Winterburn will provide live commentary of the game, talking you through all the key moments on the field.
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