By Bulldog Drummond.
And now back to the real thing, and the first point to look at must be Bournemouth’s activity as an away team. Here’s their performance away from home last season
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Everton | 19 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 20 | 28 | -8 | 18 |
| 11 | Stoke City | 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 17 | 32 | -15 | 17 |
| 12 | West Bromwich Albion | 19 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 29 | -13 | 16 |
| 13 | AFC Bournemouth | 19 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 20 | 38 | -18 | 15 |
| 14 | Swansea City | 19 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 18 | 36 | -18 | 14 |
| 15 | Watford | 19 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 15 | 39 | -24 | 12 |
| 16 | Middlesbrough | 19 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 10 | 30 | -20 | 10 |
| 17 | Leicester City | 19 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 38 | -21 | 10 |
| 18 | Sunderland | 19 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 13 | 35 | -22 | 10 |
| 19 | Burnley | 19 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 35 | -22 | 7 |
| 20 | Hull City | 19 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 9 | 45 | -36 | 6 |
Just the three wins, which is encouraging for us and an average of two goals conceded for each game with only one scored. As for Arsenal at home…
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tottenham Hotspur | 19 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 47 | 9 | 38 | 53 |
| 2 | Chelsea | 19 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 55 | 17 | 38 | 51 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 19 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 39 | 16 | 23 | 45 |
| 4 | Everton | 19 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 42 | 16 | 26 | 43 |
Two goals scored and one conceded which gives us from both counts a 2-1 win.
Towards the end of last season Bournemouth were quite strong, the last ten games showing just two defeats, but away from home there was just won win, but still only one defeat. Both of these results however were very much by the form book – beating relegated Sunderland, losing the Tottenham.
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Comp |
| 01 Apr 2017 | Southampton v Bournemouth | D | 0-0 | PL |
| 05 Apr 2017 | Liverpool v Bournemouth | D | 2-2 | PL |
| 15 Apr 2017 | Tottenham v Bournemouth | L | 4-0 | PL |
| 29 Apr 2017 | Sunderland v Bournemouth | W | 0-1 | PL |
| 21 May 2017 | Leicester City v Bournemouth | D | 1-1 | PL |
This season they have had two away games – one of which was won, against Championship Birmingham.
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Comp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Aug 2017 | WBA v Bournemouth | L | 1-0 | PL |
| 22 Aug 2017 | B’ham v Bournemouth | W | 1-2 | Lge Cup |
We might compare this with Arsenal’s home record from within the last ten games last season and the match so far this season…
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Comp |
| 26 Apr 2017 | Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 1-0 | PL |
| 07 May 2017 | Arsenal v Manchester United | W | 2-0 | PL |
| 16 May 2017 | Arsenal v Sunderland | W | 2-0 | PL |
| 21 May 2017 | Arsenal v Everton | W | 3-1 | PL |
And this season there has been just the one game
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Comp |
| 11 Aug 2017 | Arsenal v Leicester City | W | 4-3 | PL |
All told taking in the last ten games (home and away) of last season and all the games this season, and then just counting away games for Bournemouth and home games for Arsenal we have
Bournemouth: won 2, drawn 3, lost two, thus showing a certain resilience, which is what we have seen in playing them.
Arsenal have played fewer games – just five, and won the lot. 2-1 still looks like the form score.
On the injury front…
If you were reading during the week you’ll know we had a look at an alternative approach to injuries which showed Arsenal with something like seven players out for each game, and tried to work out ways of finding a consistency.
One of the problems is the question of which players you include in the list: we have several youngsters injured (Krystian Bielik for example will be out until December), but then he is unlikely to have played in any league games before then – he would have been expecting to be part of the League Cup squad and play for the under 23s. So should we count him?
The problem with a “yes” answer to that question is that if we do count him I am going to be struggling to get all the data on all the young players who are out for a week or two, so on purely practical terms I don’t think it can be done.
More reliably we should go with players in the “25” and youngsters regularly playing for the first team (which at the moment would include Iwobi for Arsenal, but not Santi).
This is pretty much what Physioroom gives (that is the source of the stats we have used for the last two years), except they do include Santi, but even so, I’m staying put on them as a source:
Here’s their table
| # | TEAM | No. out | Last man down | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everton | 8 | M Holgate | Ankle Injury |
| 2 | Brighton and Hove | 8 | G Bong | Muscle Strain |
| 3 | Stoke City | 7 | K Zouma | Ankle Injury |
| 4 | Crystal Palace | 7 | P Souare | Fitness |
| 5 | Watford | 7 | S Prodl | Hamstring Injury |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 5 | K Trippier | Ankle Injury |
| 7 | Swansea City | 5 | J Ayew | Illness |
| 8 | West Ham United | 5 | E Fernandes | Ankle Injury |
| 9 | Newcastle United | 5 | K Darlow | Ankle Injury |
| 10 | Bournemouth | 4 | N Ake | Ankle Injury |
| 11 | Manchester United | 4 | L Shaw | Fitness |
| 12 | Huddersfield Town | 4 | C Quaner | Knee Injury |
| 13 | Liverpool | 3 | A Lallana | Thigh Strain |
| 14 | Arsenal | 2 | C Chambers | Groin Strain |
That puts us in 14th place as you can see from the chart, with just two men out. One is Chambers and the other is Santi, who if we took the notion of him not being counted because he is not in the 25, would be 1 player out. One or two, we are once again not, as the media would have it, the club with all the injuries.
Here’s the Bournemouth list
| PLAYER | What’s wrong | Return date | Available? |
| N Ake | Ankle Injury | September 9, 2017 | Slight Doubt |
| S Francis | Hamstring Injury | September 9, 2017 | Major Doubt |
| J Stanislas | Groin Injury | September 9, 2017 | No |
| C Wilson | ACL Knee Injury | October 21, 2017 | No |
Now we have a problem again because we have three players with a return date tomorrow, but one is classified as a slight doubt, one a major doubt, and one so much of a doubt that he is just a “no”. We’ve still got a way to go to resolve this.
More anon.
I think you have to count Santi as injured, as the only reason he’s not in the 25 is his injury.
Alexis istagram, pointing skywards, “back home (after return from Chile fixtures), ‘focus'”
I think he just called London home and said he aimed to focus on Arsenal and Mesut opened the score ling for Germany l, notched an assist and notched several key chance creations on duty and with Giroud and Lacazette playing fortune Same spot not unlike Theo and Danny.
Slump should be about to end, Alexis is our talisman, heand Mesut must get even better.
COYG 3 scored and a clean sheet. We need our swagger back!
Dwain Kaye – Thanks for that post. Always get a chuckle when Ozil plays like that for the World Cup Winners. But, of course, not good enough for the EPL. It’s the body language you see. I’ll take 25 with his ‘body language’.