Arsenal resume their Premier League campaign when they host AFC Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Mikel Arteta’s side will be keen on extending their nine-point lead over Manchester City, who take on Chelsea on Sunday.
Andonia Iraola’s side are on an eleven-match unbeaten run in the Premier League, with their last defeat coming at home to Arsenal in January. They went into the international break on the back of a chaotic 2-2 draw against Manchester United at home.
Arsenal, meanwhile, come into this game on the back of a 1-0 win over Sporting CP in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal, having exited the FA Cup last weekend.
Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s game.
How to watch:
The match will be shown on TNT Sports in the UK, NBC Sports in the U.S., JioHotstar in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN’s live updates.
Key Details:
Kick-off time: Saturday, April 11 at 12:30 p.m. BST (7:30 a.m. ET; 5 p.m. IST and 9:30 p.m. AEST).
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
Referee: Michael Oliver
VAR: Darren England
Injury and Team News:
Arsenal
Piero Hincapié, D: muscle, DOUBT
Jurriën Timber, D: knock, DOUBT
Bukayo Saka, F: knock, DOUBT
Eberechi Eze, M: calf, OUT
Mikel Merino, M: foot, OUT
AFC Bournemouth
Matai Akinmboni, D: fitness, DOUBT
Tyler Adams, M: knock, DOUBT
Lewis Cook, M: hamstring, OUT
Justin Kluivert, F: strain, OUT
Julio Soler, D: muscle, OUT
Talking Points:
Raya’s presence paramount to Arsenal’s fortunes
David Raya returned in Arsenal’s goal for their UEFA Champions League game against Sporting CP and immediately proved why he’s Arteta’s No. 1 with a man-of-the-match performance. Sporting boss Rui Borges hailed Raya as the best player on the pitch for either side, and it would be hard to argue against him.
The Spaniard’s performance only underlined whether Arteta missed a trick by opting for Kepa Arrizabalaga in the Carabao Cup final and the FA Cup quarterfinal defeat to Southampton. The style of play Arsenal have opted for means that any errors in goal are usually punished all the more because Arteta’s side may not score enough at the other end.
Raya’s distribution and penchant for making game-defining saves had Kai Havertz hailing him as the best in the world, and should he continue this form, Arsenal could be celebrating silverware come the end of the season. The stats certainly back it up — no goalkeeper has prevented more goals than Raya in the UCL over the last two seasons (12 conceded from 21 expected goals conceded).
Having exited both domestic cups, Arsenal fans will be only too glad that Raya will now feature in all their games for the rest of the season, barring injury.
Cherries’ 22-day break could work in their favour
Arsenal’s injury issues were apparent against Sporting, with four starters unavailable — Jurriën Timber, Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze and Piero Hincapié. A majority of the squad are still feeling the effects of a long, physical season and that was evident in the FA Cup and UCL games post the international break.
A majority of Bournemouth’s squad, meanwhile, will have had three weeks off when they take to the Emirates on Saturday afternoon, and this could work brilliantly in their favour. Of the eleven starters against Manchester United, Amine Adli played 23 minutes for Morocco, Rayan had 14 minutes for Brazil, Ryan Christie played 97 minutes for Scotland, Marcos Senesi played 90 for Argentina, while Djordje Petrovic had 45 minutes for Serbia. In contrast, almost all of Arsenal’s entire squad were either nursing injuries or featuring heavily in the international break.
Iraola’s side are the most direct side in the league (65 direct attacks yielding five goals), and making this a physical, high-intensity game would only work in their favour. Evanilson scored in a similar way in the loss to Arsenal earlier this season, and he’ll fancy his chances against an Arsenal defence that played out a bruising UCL encounter in Portugal a few days ago.
Can Arsenal defend their way to the title?
1:10
Burley: Arsenal were dull and boring vs Sporting CP
Craig Burley believes Arsenal were underwhelming and failed to impress despite their 1-0 win over Sporting CP.
‘1-0 to the Arsenal’ as the famous chant goes, could be Arteta’s route to lifting the Premier League trophy come May. Arteta’s side have conceded the least xG in the league by some margin (22.1, with Manchester City the next best with 33.1 xG conceded).
While Arsenal have scored the most goals (61) in the league this season, their creativity has disappeared of late, generating only 3.48 xG from open play across their last four games in all competitions. It’s telling how much Arteta has turned to 16-year-old Max Dowman in recent times, given the absences of Eze and Saka, with Martin Ødegaard still rusty on his return from injury.
Thankfully for Arteta, his forwards have been in goalscoring form for both club and country, and Havertz and Viktor Gyökeres can be trusted to feed on what little scraps they’re offered. Arteta noted that the template they followed against Sporting is what he expects from his side against Bournemouth as well, so don’t expect high-scoring games involving Arsenal any time soon.
Kroupi could prove Iraola’s wildcard
Quietly, 19-year-old Eli Junior Kroupi has pulled off one of the best debut seasons by a teenager, with nine PL goals so far. Should he score against Arsenal, he will become the first teenager since Robbie Keane (1999-2000, 12 goals) to score 10+ goals in their debut season.
Kroupi has averaged a goal every 129 minutes this season, a feat bettered only by Erling Haaland (110). His efficiency could prove to be Iraola’s wildcard as Arsenal potentially wilt physically in the second half.
The young Frenchman already proved his goalscoring prowess against Arsenal in January, with a sumptuous strike from range, and it turned a relaxed 3-1 stroll to victory to a nervous 3-2 win for Arsenal in the final moments. Should Bournemouth keep things tight against an Arsenal side struggling to score, Kroupi’s penchant for late goals could prove to be the difference.
What do the numbers say?
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Bournemouth are on a run of eleven games without a loss in the Premier League, although they have drawn their last five games. They could become the first side to register six straight draws since Man City in 2009.
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Arsenal are looking to win five PL games in a row for a third time this season.
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Bournemouth are Declan Rice‘s favourite opponents in the Premier League, with the midfielder having his most goals (5) and goal involvements (7) against them.
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Arsenal have lost two of their last three games against Bournemouth, having only lost once in the previous 14 games against them.
