If Arsenal wins against Bournemouth, they will lead Man City by 12 points even though the opponent still has 2 matches left. Although there is still a direct confrontation, if the gap reaches that level, The Gunners will breathe much easier when there are only 6 matches left ahead. However, they have lost in a way that could not be more lackluster.
In recent weeks, since losing to Man City in the League Cup final, Arsenal has been very lacking in ideas and has run out of energy. The basic things that made their success in the early stages have no longer appeared. Three consecutive defeats in the domestic arena are too disappointing achievements. It is uncertain whether in the middle of next week, they may lose to Sporting at home in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.
After the defeat to Bournemouth, Mikel Arteta admitted that Arsenal had a much worse match than expected. The performance against Bournemouth was not the standard of the Gunners but they have continuously played weakly like that in recent weeks. The victory over Sporting away from home in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals was not a match where Arsenal played better, it was only momentary and they could not recreate it at the Emirates afterwards.
In a day when composure must be prioritized, Arsenal completely failed in the task of building and maintaining confidence. Mikel Arteta himself also admitted that his team did many "strange things" against Bournemouth. For example, in this match, David Raya received up to 38 back passes from his teammates, proving the deadlock in deploying the ball to the front line.
After conceding a goal, Arsenal tried to counter-attack to create pressure, but that was not enough. Confidence was not pushed up enough for The Gunners to create pressure after Viktor Gyokeres' goal from the penalty spot. What is scary is that Bournemouth was even more confident after conceding a goal. The away team played bolder and got the goal to seal the score 2-1 after a series of opportunities from pressure.
The match at the Emirates stadium was also a rare unsuccessful day for David Raya. The Arsenal goalkeeper looked very restless in many situations, even there was a pass error that almost Evanilson of Bournemouth took advantage of successfully. The passes from below from the Spanish star also no longer made a difference.
This defeat took place in the same round that Arsenal was defeated by Aston Villa at home in 2024. The three points lost at that time created a difference between winning the championship and finishing second. The cheers of "again finishing second" from Bournemouth fans in the Emirates stands will surely haunt Arsenal players after the match.
The most worrying thing is that this performance is not an error. It is part of a gloomy picture, a team that seems to be falling freely after receiving too much expectation. Fans once talked about winning the quadruple. Perhaps Mikel Arteta and his students never set this goal, but they were unintentionally pushed into that pressure by fans.
The absence of Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber or Riccardo Calafiori makes Arsenal lack springing power in all 3 lines. As long as these people have not returned to play regularly, it is likely that the "Gunners" will continue to lose. Arsenal have made efforts in 3/4 of the season but just falling free in the final stage, they may lose everything and this time it is much more painful than the previous 3 seasons.
In this match against Man City, Arsenal received a very painful punch in the face, just as Mikel Arteta said. I don't know if they can recover against the opponent in the match next week or not?
