BOURNEMOUTH, England (Reuters) -A brilliantly-worked goal by Ryan Christie and a Justin Kluivert penalty gave Bournemouth a shock 2-0 Premier League win at home to 10-man Arsenal on Saturday, with Gunners defender William Saliba shown a straight red card in the first half.
The defeat brought Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the league season to a shuddering halt and leaves them third in the standings on 17 points, one behind leaders Liverpool and behind Manchester City on goal difference, with both sides in action on Sunday.
There was an early sign of the error-strewn display that was to come when Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya gave the ball away cheaply in the 16th minute, resulting in a shot over the bar from in-form Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo.
Already missing Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka through injury, Arsenal then lost Saliba on the half-hour mark when a yellow card for bringing down Evanilson was upgraded to red after a VAR review, and it turned out to be the pivotal moment of the game.
Semenyo was in the thick of things again in the 36th minute with a powerful dribble and shot that Raya parried behind for a corner, and five minutes later the Arsenal keeper spilled a cross from him, forcing a hasty recovery to block Marcus Tavernier’s follow-up.
After making the most of their one-man advantage to pin the visitors back, Christie finally broke the deadlock in the 70th minute when fellow substitute Kluivert flicked a low corner into his path, and the 29-year-old drilled it into the top corner to give Bournemouth the lead.
Things went from bad to worse for Arsenal seven minutes later when Raya upended Evanilson in the box, and Kluivert scored from the spot to make it 2-0 and secure three well-deserved points for the Cherries.
“They are a top, top team, the football they have played in the last few years, but the lads dug deep, controlled the game in big spells and got the win,” Bournemouth midfielder Lewis Cook told Sky Sports.
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice was frustrated at his side’s third sending-off in eight league games this season.
“I’m proud of us as a group of players, because to keep fighting and believing, that we believe that we can win, even with 10 men. I thought we played really well even with 10 men,” he said.
“But the naivety of it is that we’ve got to stop making mistakes – we want 11 players for 90 minutes, and that wins you football matches.”
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Christian Radnedge)
