Arsenal 1-2 Bournemouth: Gunners suffer comeback despite Rice's opener

Bournemouth breathed life into their European hopes after second-half goals from Dean Huijsen and Evanilson inspired them to a 2-1 comeback win away at Arsenal.

Match Report

Preparations for Wednesday's second leg of the Champions League semi-final at Paris Saint-Germain hardly went to plan for Arsenal, who suffered another disappointing collapse at Emirates Stadium.

Declan Rice opened the scoring after 34 minutes following a delicate Martin Odegaard pass, while Evanilson passed up two opportunities in the opening period.

However, as was the case in their 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace last time out in the Premier League, Arsenal had no match to a spirited performance from the visitors after the interval.

Huijsen headed home Bournemouth’s 67th-minute leveller from substitute Antoine Semenyo's long throw-in, stunning the home crowd into silence.

Evanilson then latched onto Marcus Tavernier's flick-on from Alex Scott's left-sided corner to poke in the winner eight minutes later, with the goal standing after a VAR check for handball against the striker.

The comeback leaves second-place Arsenal just three points clear of Manchester City, while Bournemouth climb to eighth, two points above Fulham following the Cottagers’ loss at Aston Villa.

Data Debrief: Another Arsenal collapse

Rice was the hero with a free-kick double in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid, and his opener here marked his eighth goal across all competitions this season.

That is the best scoring return in a season of Rice's career so far, while team-mate Odegaard also delivered to silence critics.

The Norway international has now provided an assist in each of his last three Premier League games, as many as in his previous 20 beforehand.

However, a second-half collapse saw Arsenal make it 21 dropped points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, their joint-most ever in a single campaign (also 21 in 2019-20).

It was also the first time Arsenal lost a Premier League game in which they were ahead at half-time since January 2022, 2-1 against Man City, having been unbeaten in 63 before this loss (W53 D10).

Arteta may feel the defeat was not fully deserved, though, given his side accumulated 1.43 expected goals to Bournemouth's 1.06.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

14' Close! Rice's shot wide out

16' Rice shoots again,still wide out

25' So close to an Evanilson goal and a Milos Kerkez assist

27' Terrible miss from Martinelli there

30' Great play by Martinelli.  Great header by Trossard. Parried!!

33' Saliba makes a splendid defense!

34' GOAL! Rice scores on his 100th appearance for Gunners! Arsenal 1-0 Bournemouth

42' So many missed chances for Bournemouth

45' Big mistake from Raya and Odegaard

49' Saka's header is poor

56' What a play by Saka

60' Odegaard has to shoot there then he dives to get a free kick

67' GOAL! Huijsen heads home to equalize! Arsenal 1-1 Bournemouth

73' Merino replaces Rice

75' GOAL! Tavernier flicks it and Evanilson scores! Arsenal 1-2 Bournemouth

85' Match Event for Arsenal vs Bournemouth

Line-ups

Arsenal XI: Trossard, Partey, David Raya, Ødegaard, Rice, Ben White, Martinelli, Saliba, Saka, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly

Subs: Sterling, Zinchenko, Tierney, Merino, N. Butler-Oyedeji, Tommy Setford, Nwaneri, Jimi Gower, Brayden Clarke

Bournemouth XI: Kepa, Lewis Cook, Adams, Marcus Tavernier, Kluivert, Evanilson, Julián Araujo, Ilya Zabarnyi, Milos Kerkez, Dango Ouattara, Dean Huijsen

Subs: Smith, Brooks, Marcos Senesi, Antoine Semenyo, James Hill, Will Dennis, Daniel Jebbison, Alex Scott, Julio Soler