By Tony Attwood
- Arsenal v Bournemouth: commands from the people who say they know
- A bland banner erected because of time shortage… Arsenal’s PR reaches a new low
So Arsenal v Bournemouth comes at a time when Bournemouth are in a bad run. What’s more they are also not so good away from home, both of which factors are pointers in Arsenal’s favour.
And to this we can add how things have gone in the previous matches between the two sides. Of these games, 11 have been in the League, one in the FA Cup and one in the League Cup. In the last ten matches (nine in the league and one in the FA Cup) Arsenal has lost one (the last one), drawn one and won the rest. The goal tally is 23 for Arsenal and eight for Bournemouth. And that is in a set of matches stretching from November 2018 to October 2024.
I think I am right in saying that Bournemouth had the longest run of consecutive seasons of any team in the third tier of English football, (Division 3 South and then Division 3) before descending to the fourth tier in 1970. Then in 1987 they won their first major trophy (the one minor one being the Hampshire League) and climbed from Division 3 into Division 2 – although they went back down again a few years after.
But the big move came in 2013, when they went up to the Championship which they then won two years later. Since then they have had one short spell back in the second tier but mostly have done ok as a mid-ranking Premier League team with an extraordinarily small ground. It is in fact the smallest ground in the Premier League holding 11,307. The other small-ground clubs that have made it to the top division have all since gone back down, except Southampton who will go back down this season.
These little ground clubs include: Luton Town, Oldham Athletic, Swindon Town, Blackpool, Brentford, Derby County, QPR and Swansea City. Thanks to Give Me Sport for that. Bournemouth have shown a continuous wish to stay in their ground and develop it as fas as they can, and the article suggests that in time they can get up to 23,000 on the site they have.
Their highest position has been ninth in the Premier League in 2017 and indeed as they are tenth at the moment it may be that they are planning for this season to be the one where that record is broken.
However, if we compare the two club’s positions in the league we can see the gap. Both clubs have played 34 games in the league but Arsenal have scored ten more goals (despite losing their entire forward line at one point) and conceded just 29. For Bournemouth it is 53 for and 41 against. Arsenal’s goal difference of +34, is almost three times that of Bournemouth’s.
In goalscoring terms, this is a major improvement on last season wherein the club scored 54 and conceded 67. With four games left this season, their goal difference is surely going to be positive, rather than the -13 achieved last season.
Arsenal’s best win against them came on 27 February 2019 with the score Arsenal 5 Bournemouth 1. Our worst defeat was the 2-0 loss earlier this season at Dean Court.
But one thing they do have to worry about is where the goals are coming from. for of the AFC Bournemouth players in the 11v11 football database, only one player (Justin Kluivert) is in double figures for league goals (12) and they have two players on nine goals each.
But then when we come to Arsenal (again just in terms of league goals scored) we have no one on double figures for goals in the league this season. Our top scorers are…
| Player | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Kai Havertz | 21 | 9 |
| Leandro Trossard | 25 | 8 |
| Gabriel Martinelli | 21 | 7 |
| Mikel Merino | 15 | 6 |
| Bukayo Saka | 17 | 6 |
But then we come back to the earlier point. Arsenal have scored 63 to Bournemouth’s 53. And of course, this is where people start demanding that Arsenal sign a new centre forward. Forgetting perhaps that there is another way – the way Arsenal were exploring before all the injuries. That of a team of scorers. Arsenal have 16 players who have scored a Premier League goal for the club this season. Just imagine what would happen if they could all be kept fit for a season.
