Sandwiched between our Champions League semi-final ties with Paris Saint-Germain is Saturday’s visit of Bournemouth to the Emirates Stadium (5.30pm), as we look to get the winning feeling back again before we hop over the Channel.
History tells us that a visit from the Cherries could be just the tonic, as we have been victorious in all eight of our home games against the south-coast club. However Andoni Iraola’s team have rightly earned many plaudits and no Gooner will need reminding of their qualities after they beat us at the Vitality Stadium back in October.
With the visitors chasing a maiden European berth there is still plenty to play for as we attempt to sew up a third-straight second-place finish in the coming weeks, and also put us in the best possible mindset with a huge continental clash of our own in Paris next up.
Bournemouth in the balance
Having been so impressive for the vast majority of this campaign, Bournemouth fans will be hoping that their campaign doesn’t tail off like last term. Though they’re unbeaten in four, the Cherries have won just one of their last nine league games, dropping them from the Champions League spots back in February to their current position of 10th heading into the weekend.
The opportunity to surpass their best-ever top-flight finish of ninth in 2016/17, which could potentially secure a first taste of European football next term, is still within reach during the final weeks of a superb season, which has already seen them put 50 points on the board to overtake last term’s record haul as Iraola continues to impress.
Back-to-back home defeats to Brentford and Ipswich Town and a FA Cup quarter-final loss to Manchester City kick-started a drop in form, which has seen draws against West Ham United, Crystal Palace and Manchester United last weekend thanks to a 95th minute Rasmus Hojlund goal, as well as a solitary success since mid-February coming at home against Fulham three weeks ago.
What the managers say
Arteta: "I imagine, I think in the Premier League every club that is in this position, they have the opportunity to [reach the Champions League]. Now they have the consistency in the league, they have very, very good players. When you look at the players and the set-up that they have, it's really impressive.
"In terms of intensity and how they approach every duel, in the way of playing they are a bit different to PSG. They want to achieve things that are very similar in certain ways so it's not about practicing them, it's just to be very efficient and very good in what we have to do against them in order to play the way that we want.”
Iraola: “I think we have the same number of points home and away, but the truth is, in the games we’ve played at home, we’ve scored and conceded very little goals, and in the game we played away we’ve scored a lot and conceded a lot.
“Having different scenarios in the end to get the same points, but I feel like the opposition obviously playing at home, they go for the game, we go for the game. The games are like more open when we play away and more things happen. We will see if we are able to have this amount of chances also when we play at the Emirates.”
Team news
Thomas Partey is back in contention after missing the PSG game on Tuesday through suspension, while Riccardo Calafiori (knee) and Jorginho (rib) remain unavailable.
Kai Havertz, Gabriel (hamstrings), Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu (both knee) are still long-term casualties.
Ryan Christie will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing groin surgery, while Enes Unal has been out since January after damaging knee ligaments. Luis Sinisterra’s injury-plagued campaign currently sees him sidelined again with a hamstring problem.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme: Iraola has used 4-2-3-1 in every single Premier League contest so far this season. He wants the Cherries to play out from the back and move the ball quickly through the thirds, but they are at their most dangerous from turnovers and transitions as they attack directly and at speed.
The Cherries are a very strong, aggressive side when out of possession. Pressing is their core strength, and they go man-to-man from goal kicks, squeezing their midfield up high in a bid to regain the ball in advanced areas.
No top-flight side has won possession inside the final third more than Bournemouth, and Lewis Cook and Ryan Christie are two of the division’s most effective ball winners. However when fatigue sets in, rival sides can pass through the thirds quickly to isolate their back four.
They are also a side that loves to fly forward down the flanks, with left-back Milos Kerkez [above] especially dynamic. The Hungarian likes to overlap and whips a lot of quality crosses into the box, while winger Antoine Semenyo has power and blistering acceleration when running with the ball down the side channels. Justin Kluivert is also particularly good at travelling with it down the spine of the field.
Facts and stats
We have won all seven of our home Premier League games against Bournemouth, only posting a better 100% win record on home soil in the competition against Stoke City (10/10).
Bournemouth have kept just one clean sheet in their 15 Premier League meetings with us, though it was in their 2-0 victory in October.
We have lost just one of our last 35 Premier League games on the weekend immediately following a midweek European match (W24 D10).
The Cherries are winless in their last four Premier League away games, drawing each of their last three. They are also winless in 11 top-flight matches in London since a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace in December 2023, drawing each of their last five visits to the capital.
Leandro Trossard has scored four goals in his last four Premier League games, as many as he had in his previous 31.
Only Mohamed Salah (120) has had more shots than Antoine Semenyo (118) in the Premier League this season. However, Semenyo has the fifth-lowest conversion rate of anyone with 50+ shots this term (7.6%).
Justin Kluivert has been involved in 13 goals in his last 10 Premier League away games (10 goals, 3 assists), while only Salah (16) has scored on the road than the Dutchman this term (10).
Match officials
Jarred Gillett has been handed his third Gunners game of the campaign, and the previous two have been good ones from our perspective as we beat Wolves 2-0 on the opening day before winning 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium the following month.
We’ve won six of the eight matches he’s overseen, whereas the Cherries have won one of the last six stretching back to 2020, however that victory came back in February at Southampton - the Cherries’ last success on the road. Gillett averages 4.4 yellow cards a Premier League game but hasn’t shown a red card in his 13 top-flight assignments this term.
Referee: Jarred Gillett
Assistants: Richard West, Steve Meredith
Fourth official: Tom Neild
VAR: Michael Salisbury
Assistant VAR: Derek Eaton
Previous visits from the Cherries
We have won all eight of our home games against Bournemouth ever, scoring 23 goals and conceding just four. That total was boosted nearly exactly a year ago when we ran out 3-0 victors thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Declan Rice.
The unbeaten record was put under severe threat back in March 2023 when Philip Billing netted after nine seconds and Marcos Sanesi doubled the lead, but strikes from Thomas Partey and Ben White pulled us level before Reiss Nelson’s belter won it in the 96th minute.
That had been the first time the Cherries had appeared at Emirates Stadium since October 2019, when David Luiz’s first Gunners goal saw us claim a 1-0 victory.
Live coverage
Tune into Live From N5 an hour before kick-off when Nicole Holliday and Jeremie Aliadiere will be in the studio and joined by social media stars The Pointer Brothers and singer Alfie Castley.
There will be a look ahead to our Champions League semi-final second leg in Paris next week, plus we'll challenge our studio audience with a round of What Happens Next.
Frimmy will be joined pitchside by Adrian Clarke to break down everything you need to know about Bournemouth, before Adrian joins Dan Roebuck for commentary throughout the 90 minutes.
You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the action live wherever you are in the world.
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