Arsenal: Cech, Debuchy, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Xhaka, Elneny, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Alexis
Subs: Ospina, Gabriel, Gibbs, Coquelin, Ramsey, Iwobi, Giroud
—
Arsenal got their first Premier League win of November, as a double from Alexis Sanchez and a Theo Walcott strike gave them a 3-1 win over Bournemouth at the Emirates today.
Arsene Wenger made a seven changes to the team which drew 2-2 with PSG in midweek, as Petr Cech, Mathieu Debuchy, Nacho Monreal, Granit Xhaka, Mohamed Elneny, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott all came into the starting XI.
There was an early sight of goal for Mesut Ozil when Oxlade-Chamberlain pulled back a nice ball from the left but the German’s shot was blocked. Bournemouth’s Steve Cook picked up a 4th minute yellow card for a foul on Alexis, and just three minutes captain Steve Francis followed him into the book for hacking down the Ox.
It was a bright start from Arsenal, but Bournemouth were guilty of a horrendous mistake to gift the Gunners the first goal.
Federici rolled the ball out to Cook, he tried to play it back to him but underhit it, played it straight to Alexis who picked it up on the edge of the box, took it on and rolled it beyond the stranded keeper into the net. 1-0.
The Chilean felt he should have had a penalty minutes later but his claims were waved away. Replays showed he was fouled, but the incident took place just outside the box.
Debuchy’s return to action, after so long out, only lasted 15 minutes. The French international picked up an injury and was replaced by Gabriel.
The visitors were then handed a way back into the game by referee Mike Jones who ignored a blatant foul on Ozil on the wing. As play went on the ball bounced into the Arsenal box, Wilson barged into Monreal and the man in black booked the Spaniard and pointed to the spot. Wilson picked himself up and rolled the ball into the net to make it 1-1.
It was almost worse a minute later when Smith headed over the bar from 10 yards as the visitors enjoyed a good spell. By the 30th minute they’d had seven attempts to Arsenal’s three.
Elneny shot over in the 37th minute when he intercepted just outside their box, before nice combination play between Alexis and Ozil saw the Chilean do likewise. Arsenal dominated the final stages of the opening period, and almost went back in front when Alexis smashed a fierce shot off the crossbar from a tight angle, but the game remained level at the break.
There were no changes by either manager at half-time, and Ozil’s free kick early in the second period drifted wide without an Arsenal head on it. It was an Arsenal head that them in front though.
The Gunners worked the ball down the left, Ozil held it in the box before crossing it to the back post. Monreal might have shot, but dinked a beautiful cross to the back post where the waiting Walcott headed home. 2-1 (video 2).
Alexis almost picked out Ozil but his pass was slightly overhit, and he was next into the referee’s book for a nasty foul on Harry Arter, catching the Irishman on the back of the Achilles with his studs.
Bournemouth sent on former Gunner Benik Afobe who replaced goalscorer Wilson in the 64th minute. Xhaka had a long distance pop in the 69th minute but Bournemouth were very much in the game. They made another change, with Jordan Ibe replacing Junior Stanislas.
There was another penalty shout for Bournemouth when the ball clearly struck Monreal’s hand in the box, but the referee deemed it ball to hand. Arter picked up a booking for his protests.
A wonderful Alexis pass almost saw Ozil clean through but the German was held up on the edge of the box and his backheel was just cut out before it reached Oxlade-Chamberlain.
It was the England man’s last involvement as he was replaced by Aaron Ramsey in the 75th minute while Walcott came off for Olivier Giroud at the same time.
Afobe almost made it 2-2 when a corner fell to him in the box, but Cech made an outstanding save with his legs to deny the former Arsenal man. It was a game of few chances, neither goalkeeper particularly overworked.
The Gunners had to defend well, with good work from Mustafi, Alexis, Gabriel and Xhaka helping to keep the lead secure. Giroud almost got on the end of a Ramsey cross and then returned the favour, chesting the ball down for the Welshman who couldn’t quite make the most of the chance.
As the game headed towards the final minute of normal time, substitute Mousset headed wide from a good position, and it proved a costly miss as Arsenal extended the lead just a minute later.
Mustafi slid in, as the Gunners broke from deep, Giroud played it to Ozil who returned it behind their defence. The Frenchman cut it back from the byline and Alexis was there to tap home from close range. 3-1.
Five minutes of injury time were added, in which Gabriel picked up a yellow card, but the Chilean’s second goal provided a nice cushion.
In the end a difficult enough day, but good to see the team back to winning ways as they now lie just three points behind the leaders.
The match sheet might have said Bournemouth but it felt like Bayern. A good result from a very hard fought match.
Ramsey benched, and Arsenal win comfortably in the end. Normal service resumes.
You call that comfortably? Just any excuse to moan about Ramsey, right? Give it a rest.
Also, willing to sell my house and use that money towards Sanchez’s contract.
The key words in that sentence are, “…in the end.” 3-1 is, in the end, a comfortable win.
Yep, but the point is that it was a very tough, closely contested game without Ramsey.
You could argue that Arsenal were more comfortable after Ramsey came on today.
In the end… as in, when Ramsey was on the pitch.
Absolute rubbish. Nothing comfortable about the win today.
I watched the game in Deepest Darkest Yorkshire and I must say when Ramsey came on, I and my only other fellow Gooner in the pub were a bit downbeat…we both said we wouldn’t do it but hey…Wenger knows right? this said the ref was a thwunck…
Sadistic idiots like you will never be satisfied. A good win and you still moan. Fucking idiot. If anything Ramsey’s cameo tonight was very good. First time we see Wenger reverting to 4-3-3 with Ozil out right. Sure the game was already won but looks a good alternative tactic, more pace and power through the middle and letting the top 3 attackers do their thing.
If Ramsey wasn’t British, he’d have more haters than Eboué.
Who could possibly hate Eboue?
Eboue is a cult hero
And a bit shit.
You just make yourself look stupid!
this anti-Ramsey agenda is getting ridiculous.
Ramsey and Giroud came on and played well.
and nothing about this win was comfortable, unless you just checked out the scoreline after the game, or just watched the goal highlights.
I don’t Ramsey as a starter but coming off the bench could be an asset
Remember, just because they’re shouting loudest doesn’t mean their right or the majority agree with them. Before the Wenger protest last year the internet would have made you think the stadium was going to be packed full of protest signs. When the day came, that was hardly the case. People who just scream that one player is the team’s major problem just lack anything intelligent to say about the game as a whole or look with an analytical eye at the circumstances surrounding the situation.
why do people think ramsey is bad is beyond me. he never had a proper run in his favoured position in midfield. whenever he gets to play he is shoehorned to the wings. last season was the only time he got to play in midfield when santi and coquelin was injured . but ramsey had to play with suicidal flaminy who did nothing to protect the midfield and it was left to ramsey to all by himself and understandbly he couldnt do that. the manager has his reasons to play ramsey in wings . but we shouldnt fully judge ramsey… Read more »
You people whining about Ramsey criticism, get over yourselves. It´s a fact that he has not played well, except for that one season when he was superb. We all miss that and hope to see it again, but stop dwelling in the past and look at the obvious fact: he has not played well for a long time now despite many chances. Easy to dribble past, dribbles too much himself, not strong enough, etc etc.
?
OH Debuchy you unlucky bugger. He was actually friggin good before he left I was soooo happy not to see Jenkinson start before seeing Debuchys name as a starter I was hoping we played 3 at the back or coquelin or someone else plays RB so I was very pleased to see Debuchy and you could tell one of the big reasons we havent been playing our normal style is because our RB havent been positive enough over the past few games and I thought Debuchy brought that overlapping sense or responsiibilty that RB should have that Jenkinson doesnt seem… Read more »
If Mustafi were half the defender Koscielny is we would be on another level. Xhaka was excellent in the second half. Walcott got a goal, but he was doing Walcottian things for most of this game. Gabriel was initially a headless chicken but suddenly became this super solid, super attacking right back. The transformation after his first 10 minutes was almost amusing.
Ozil needs some assists badly but he’s still doing Ozil things so it’s okay I guess.
Don’t forget Mustafi is much younger than Koscielny, I think he’s better now than Koscielny was in 2011. I agree with the rest of your post.
“If Mustafi were half the defender Koscielny is we would be on another level. ” i understand what you’re saying with this but man that’s a harsh way to put it, Mustafi is still a talented defender, it’s just that Koscielny is absolutely world class and makes him look average. can’t wait to see him develop over the next few seasons…
You don’t recall Koscielny had a load of red cards and own goals in his first season with us?
How many seasons has Mustafi been with us then?
😉
Gabriel has played how many games at RB for us exactly? And suddenly he’s “super solid” and you cannot seriously flagging off mustafi already given that he’s played less than twenty matches for us. Ozils performances have been just “ok I guess” this season…and why not ignore the fact that Walcott is on pace to having the best goal scoring season of his career. Christ some fans
Good response after tough draw against PSG. Sanchez was excellent and Xhaka grew into the game and was very effective in second half. Ox was bright and positive and Theo does have a knack of being in the right place. Was impressed with Gabriel after he found his sea legs at right back. I will say that this year’s team is gritty and are better at handling adversity. Finally, really like Giroud as super sub especially when opposition is knackered because his physicality is a huge asset while his lack of pace is not detrimental to team.
xhaka was quality and elneny was immense pressing every player on the pitch. just shows how good our sqaud is that we replaced the two midfielder that were playing for us and still got similar good performance from backup midfielders.
waiting to see xhaka-ramsey partnership
Good performance
Breathing on somebody is a penalty these days
Archetypal Walcott performance
Gabriel is good
Debuchy is very unlucky
Alexis is irreplaceable (One of his best ever performances imo, he was fucking everywhere)
Ox should get a run
Maybe Ozil should sit out a game or two
3 points!
Calum Wilson is divey.
Ref was a Jam ?
Oh and I forgot one, Ibe is a poor mans imitation of the Ox!
Ozil sit out a game? Was involved in two of our goals and had at least two very good chances at a goal – one blocked by Ake and the other just passing him at the near post. Just because he didn’t get a goal or an assist today doesn’t mean he wasn’t instrumental in our victory.
Just afraid he will burn out is all.
He had a vacation during the interlull. Should be fresh.
more importantly- the basel base works
ozil was very good in the second half, and had two pre-assists, his involvement in theo’s goal was fantastic
I don’t know how it looked on TV, but I was watching Walcott a lot from the stands, and the difference between this season and past seasons is huge, even in games where he gives it away / miscontrols a few times like today. He offers so much more going forward, gets involved in all the moves either in the play itself or by dragging players out of position which he did countless times today, and works back so hard; one of the reasons Gabriel looked decent at right back was because he actually had good cover. And this from… Read more »
Credit to bournmouth for not defended with 11 men all game
Ozil was amazing. Watching him move in tandem with Sanchez was a thing of beauty.
Gabriel came on and had a beautiful game.
The Hfb was great.
Kos was immense.
And how’s that performance for the Ramsey haters huh ? Huh ?!?!
COYG
Yea, great Ramsey performance warming the bench. More of that every week please!
It’s starting to get tiring now.
Getting more and more suspicious of your hatred. Is there something your not telling us? Or yourself?
Seriously Defense fuck off to the internet. Blogs should consider a filter to weed out cunts like you.
It’s like Ramsey has become the new catalyst for Arsenal fans to argue about now Wenger in/out has become unfashionable. You’d have to be blind or deluded to say that he’s lived up to the form of the 13/14 season, and he didn’t achieve much today off the bench in all honesty. He’s a very good player, who is inconsistent, and on his bad days is ineffective and gives the ball away too much. I like him, and think that he has something to offer the team, and with a run of games he could achieve more consistency. But I… Read more »
That was a great match, really intense with both teams trying to take it to each other. Much better than the Swansea-Palace farce yesterday, the most poorly played nine-goal match of all time.
Great performance by Alexis in particular, Cech made at least one really great save.
If our attackers play at the same level with Sanchez, We will surely be champions
Nobody plays at Sanchez’s level, lets be realistic
At last. A great win. Sanchez was amazing today. He was non stop running for the whole game. I suppose with that many changes to the starting lineup it was going to take some time to gel.
mohamed elneny too was running the whole field 90 minutes, would be unfair if we miss out his name
Lest we forget Sanchez’s usual selfish, Sh!t dribbling cost us the equalizer.
He can produce a brilliant pass at times but many other times he isn’t aware of teammates moves because his head is down a lot. For a top player he has a lot of flaws.
I dont think that’s necessarily his fault, His brainwave lengths are just on a different level to the others, Ozil is the closest to Alexis.
Actually in that department he’s behind other players. Looks at and dwells on the ball too much, missing passing opportunities.
hoping to see a lot more Xhaka-El Nenny combo in the future, looked to work really well in the 2nd half and bits of the first, they give us the ability to play everywhere on the pitch and maximise the space, especially left and right wings, if only we had someone a bit better than Ox to finish some of the chances (or cross it into the box) created in those attacking areas. A lot of build-up plays are ruined by him, despite all his efforts he just lacks that technical ability still if we’re to win the league. like… Read more »
Good win, Poor Debuchy, he was playing well before the injuries. But I thought that Gabriel play better than Jenkinson in the second half. Maybe an option there
did anyone else feel debuchy was quite good for the 15 minutes he was on?
Thought he was playing really solid. His luck is bordering on Diaby proportions now. Pity. Happy for the win though.
I don’t like Debauchy after the way he’s acted after losing his place, but even I felt sorry for him
Definitely looked like the old (good) Debuchy. So unlucky again with the injury.
yep – I feel the difference between this performance and the ones he made last season was that he looked in much better physical condition. Ironic, then, that he went off with a injury (so unlucky as well).
I mentioned we will need Debuchy sooner than later.
He is a more technical player than Jenkinson. Certainly had some issues commiting to the cause so arse luck that when he finally has decided to knuckle down with us, he gets a knock again.
That said injury looks like an issue now with age. alas.
Hopefully it is one of those adjustment injuries that won’t take too long to heal. Certainly think if fit a better option than the one dimensional Jenko at the moment.
Gabriel was pretty good too
he was chaotic in the first half. the change in the dynamic was clear when he came on. (Although he settled well in the 2nd half)
Our best performance for some time. Against very good opposition. Sanchez is unbelievable. Nacho’s assist showed such incredible technique. Alexis’s post-match interview was class – he even mentioned his dogs!
Love that name.
Some observations: Okay match, Bournemouth are a dangerous opposition. Would have liked too see us dominate more though. We started well but the penalty killed some of the momentum. The penalty wasn’t a penalty. A bit lucky with the handball on Monreal though, could have been a penalty in another match. Ox was a positive surprise. Teams are targeting Ozil to cut his interplay with Alexis, he gets no space. He looked more dangerous from the left. Giroud and Ramsey were class when brought on. The 3-man midfield we had in the end looked pretty solid. Maybe we will soon… Read more »
*from the right.
Koscielny and Cech were brilliant too
Sorry but don’t agree with the last part. The midfield trio at the end was Ramsey,elneny, and xhaka. Ramsey is slow, elneny too is not quick enough, and xhaka has just decent pace. In the end both teams were knackered and hence the obvious lack in pace was not exposed. In other words, that’s a trio we should never start with
Don’t agree at all. Ramsey has pretty good pace, Elneny probably average PL speed. Xhaka isn’t the fastest but neither is for example Matic or Wanyama who are still effective. We need speed on the wings, strength in midfield.
Why do they need to be ‘fast’? They play in midfield.
Great game of Xhaka, please play him more often
also, giroud as a joker is such a pleasure, always bringing in new fight and goal threat
all in all a good result against a good Bournemouth team in classic arsenal style, very stressful for the fan
Happy we got the 3 points, but we made it so hard on ourselves at times.
I feel so so sorry for debuchy… He was bright for 15mins he played…he was so about to cry….so unjust
football is ruthless, sometimes. feel so bad for the lad. hope he recovers soon and well.
Ozil is back. ! And I love the speed of thought of Xhaka! Makes a huge difference.!
Alexis was brilliant! Good game.! Now I can sit and enjoy WestHam making Mouthinho whine!
I was interested to see Bournemouth bring on that bloke that was responsible for that “I’m Horny” song from the mid ’90s near the end.
Glad his talent didn’t stretch to playing football (that chance he missed was a bit embarrassing for him).
Great win! Did anyone notice despite a very good start to the game, Debuchy going off really interrupted our flow? Whole game changed after that and Debuchy looked bright in the first 15
Yeah totally agree with you on that one , replacing a RB with a CB really did destroy our flow…
Well, phew
Good result against a team that had a man advantage from kickoff. The ref was absolute shit today, and it looked like Howe’s complaints about their last match influenced his decision on the penalty. How Arter and Ake avoided sendings off was beyond me (Arter with multiple bookable offenses and constant dissent towards the ref and Ake with several shit challenges as well as handling the ball in their box).
Agree. When did a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge become a foul? The penalty and in the end Ox vs one of their players were fair challenges
After a shaky start which was brilliantly helped out by Theo, Gabriel had an immense game today! Imo
And he was well up for a fight!
#Gabriel4President
Did Giroud got injured at the end?
Nah.. He merely knocked heads with the Bournemouth guy.
No vember? No problem!
Good performance overall.
Loved the third goal and celebration. Alexis on top of Giroud…I dont know much about taste of LGBT people but if club sells calendar with this kind of pics for charity I think it will make lots of money and awareness…
Debuchy was good while on.
Elneny Xhaka axis will do quite well till santi returns
Midield was hardly dominating first half with the pair.
Not to say Elneny didn’t do too badly but Ramsey coming on offered a bit more solidity IMO.
Elneny had some decent moments but he is there more for expediency with mid week also in mind.
We risked it a bit today with so many changes IMO.
I thought Gabriel was pretty good at RB,considering he had not played in months.He made Mustafi’s job easier.
Superb. Much better to watch and a better result. Has Giroud’s beard gone too far?
Simply – no.
How do you rest that Man Alexis? He was still running while giving that post match interview .
Bloody hell, Gabriel comes on at right back and has a cracker going forward and back. Didn’t see that coming!
Thought today Xhaka was outstanding in the second half. Imposed himself well, read the game, dropped deep to fill the Cazorla void but also got forward to Boost the attack.
3-1 win. Hard fought. Good day all round!
Also, Baby Arlo? Strange choice of name, but when your dad is Theo Walcott I guess life isn’t so bad
I can see why Wenger does not like to start Ox, Theo and Sanchez…I really want to see there pass completion and giveaway stats for this game because wow…Despite that they all had positive influences on the game. The Ox has to be the most infuriating player ever, its like he has no inbetween..Its either brilliant or bad. 6 times i saw him mess up 5 yard passes..Its like he just loses focus or blacks out for split seconds…He was good though and as i type maybe i should give them some slack because they have not played together for… Read more »
Looks like Debuchy will be out again for more than a couple of weeks. So gutted for the guy, as we were playing pretty well (thanks to him) on the right flank since the start.
Good 3 points, poor ref performance, very good BFGiroud entry and nice 4 3 3 at the end… So long November !
Thought Gabriel did decent at Rback considering he rarely plays there. NOt sure where Jenko was, may have been a more straight forward swap for Debuchy.
Still did not think we closed out the match at 2-1 with enough maturity. We don’t seem to know how to hold the ball. Fortuitously, GIroud had the pace to provide for the assist to Alexis in the end.
Good result and for me, the only positive is that Ramsey was benched. I am beginning to wonder if wenger doesn’t see what we see.
Good game, Bournemouth could have (and potentially more sensibly) played deeper and hit on the counter. Instead they showed real balls and took the game to us, and basically out Arsenal-ed us for significant periods of the game. So maximum respect to them. EFL game comes at a good time for us to rest players hopefully he plays pretty much the B team +Gibbs Gabriel and Holding. Also what better way to commemorate Arsenal’s support for the Rainbow than Sanchez and Giroud coming together at the towards the end. At times it looked like a Chihuahua humping a tall, impeccably… Read more »
That was one of the worst penalty decisions I have seen in my entire life. The referee should hang his fucking head in shame !
Totally agree, fucking disgrace. Changed the game that we looked like dominating. Wanted to be star of the show! 3 points though!
MOTM? Jens Lehmann at half time. Funny as fuck.
The game was won despite some awful decisions from the ref. Inconsistent and just awful to let that penalty stand. Much like when matey ran in to the ox and got a free kick but Ozil can take a rugby tackle and get nothing?
All down to Howe complaining about refs last week and the FA not wanting to offend a potential England manager.