- Arsenal v Bournemouth – the Arsenal Injuries and extremely confusing qualification routes
- Arsenal v Bournemouth: history, it seems, is with Arsenal.
By Tony Attwood
In their last eight Premier League games, Arsenal have won six and drawn two, scoring 19 goals and conceding five. Which by and large seems to me to be not too bad.
But of course, such results are not balanced across all the opposition, and thus we find that in Arsenal’s last eight games against Bournemouth (seven in the league one in the FA Cup), Arsenal have won six and lost two, scoring 18 and conceding nine.
Put these figures together, and we can see that Bournemouth have been doing better than the average league team when it comes to playing Arsenal, but even so, there is still a significant difference between the two clubs in all the metrics. Arsenal score 33% more goals in league matches than Bournemouth, and Bournemouth concede more than twice as many goals in League games as do Arsenal. Arsenal’s goal difference is 41 better than Bournemouth’s.
But to see Bournemouth firmly established in the Premier League is something that I suspect few of their older supporters would have imagined back in the dark days of 2008/9.
Deducted 10 points for entering administration in 2007/8 and then in the following season, deducted 17 points for leaving administration without a Company Voluntary Agreement – seemingly a very big crime. Or at least that is how I read it – it might have been the other way around.
In 2009/10, they came 21st in League Two, but the following season recovered enough to come second in that League. Then, after just three seasons in League One, they got promotion to the Championship, and then after two seasons in that league, they joined the Premier League.
Bournemouth at that point, stayed in the top division for five seasons before taking the drop, but still only remained in the second tier for a couple of seasons before making it back up. And all of this on crowds of just over 10,00. I guess it shows what a positive owner (presumably with some money) can do for a club. And also that total disasters, as the demotions must have seemed like, can be overcome.
Last season Bournemouth managed to improve significantly on their previous year’s performance, although as things stand they may slip back just a little this year.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| 2024–25 | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 58 | 46 | 56 |
| 2025/26 | 31 | 9 | 15 | 7 | 46 | 48 | 42 |
| 2025/6 est * | 38 | 11 | 18 | 9 | 56 | 59 | 51 |
The estimate table in the final row is based on the results so far this season, without taking into account the particular clubs that are yet to be played. It suggests a final position not that far away from that of last season.
Now returning to the overall picture, the two clubs have played each other 19 times, with Arsenal winning 14 and Bournemouth winning three, the remaining two obviously being draws.
All the meetings have been in the Premier League, save the first, which was in the League Cup, and an FA Cup game in 2010. Arsenal’s biggest win was in February 2019, in which Bournemouth were beaten 5-1. Bournemouth’s three victories each involved the club scoring twice. In 2018, it was 2-1 to Bournemouth at their home ground, in 2024 it was 2-0 to Bournemouth, and then finally on 3 May last year, Bournemouth got their one and only win at Arsenal, 1-2 in a Premier League match.
In terms of injuries, Bournemouth will be without Justin Kluivert, and Lewis Cook, but it appears that they can welcome back Eli Kroupi, Alejandro Jimenez and Tyler Adams. Julio Soler is said to be having a late fitness test.
And here is one final thought that just struck me, although it doesn’t directly have anything to do with tomorrow’s game, Arsenal have won the first divsiion / Premier League a total of 13 times and the FA Cup a total of 14 times throughout the history of professional football. So if Arsenal win the League this season that will make it 14 all. But then of course, if Arsenal went on to win the FA Cup as well, it would take the FA Cup trophies back into the lead.
I know that is all a bit trivial, but it is quite strange what one can come across while rummaging around the details of clubs before a game. I just thought you might like to know.
More tomorrow.
