Three factors that stood out in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Bournemouth
Arsenal beat Bournemouth 3-0 at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday to register their third consecutive win. The Gunners now lead the league table with 9 points from three matches.
Martin Odegaard scored a brace for the Gunners in the 5th and 11th minutes and William Saliba increased the lead in minute 54. On that note, we take a look at three factors which stood out in the match
Arsenal got two quick goals from Odegaard
The Gunners dominated possession from the start as Bournemouth struggled to keep the ball. Odegaard, playing as the central attacking midfielder in Arsenal’s 4-2-3-1 fell back to the half-line repeatedly to create moves from there. Arsenal kept spreading the ball around with quick passes to keep the Bournemouth defense under constant pressure .
However, it was a brilliant solo effort from Gabriel Jesus that led to the opening goal. Jesus got the ball inside the opposition half and shrugged off a couple of Bournemouth players to play it to Gabriel Martinelli, who took a shot at goal. The Bournemouth goalkeeper saved the shot, but Odegaard scored off the rebound.
The Norwegian playmaker scored again — this time from an attack that originated through the right flank. Bukayo Saka played the ball to Ben White, whose cross reached Jesus inside the opposition penalty box. The ball went to Odegaard from Jesus’ feet and the former took a shot first time to score his second goal of the match. It was Jesus’ third assist of the season.
Gunners kept possession as Bournemouth kept at bay
Arsenal defenders stayed deep for the majority of the first half as the home side could hardly keep possession inside the opposition half. The Gunners’ formation often turned to a 3-4-3 when in possession as Oleksandr Zinchenko kept shifting to central midfield to increase the numbers at the centre of the pitch. Zinchenko kept playing forward balls to Martinelli, who tried to cut in from the left flank on a number of occasions.
The visitors kept attacking through the right as well, as Odegaard kept playing passes to Saka and an overlapping Ben White. Had White’s deliveries from the right been better, the Gunners could probably have been able to score more goals.
As the first half progressed, Jesus kept dropping down to help his team create moves. Bournemouth, who only had 19% possession during the first 15 minutes of the match, finished the first half with 27% possession and no attempts at goal as Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale hardly touched the ball.
Arsenal scored in second half to register emphatic win
Bournemouth were more aggressive in their approach in the second half and dominated possession for a certain period of time. However, they were not able to test the Arsenal defense often enough. The Gunners relied more on counter attacks in the second half as Martinelli came close to scoring twice.
White then sent in yet another cross to Granit Xhaka inside the penalty box and the latter played the ball to Saliba. The French centre-back finished superbly with his left foot to put the Gunners 3-0 ahead. Odegaard then played a perfect through ball to Jesus, who found the net, but VAR intervened to rule the goal out as the Brazilian was in an offside position.
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Mikel Arteta introduced Takehiro Tomiyasu, Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah in place of White, Odegaard and Jesus, respectively. Bournemouth then made a few desperate efforts to reduce the deficit as Marcus Tavernier’s shot narrowly missed the target. Ramsdale then stopped Kieran Moore’s header from going inside as the visitors managed to keep a clean sheet.