Arsenal move back into first with win against Cherries

Arsenal moved to the top of the Premier League once again after a comfortable victory at home to Bournemouth.

If there was any suspicion that Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth were going to become a potential banana skin for the Gunners then those doubts were soon proven wrong with Arsenal dominating the first 45 minutes at the Emirates Stadium.

Indeed, Arsenal had nine attempts inside the opening 20 minutes but had to wait until before half-time before they opened the scoring from the penalty spot.

Kai Havertz made sure to leave his leg dangling as he went around goalkeeper Mark Travers with VAR taking a long look at the incident but did not interfere with referee David Coote's decision.

Bukayo Saka's penalty was coolheaded as he left Travers wrong-footed and passed the ball into the net.

The Cherries did improve in the second half but as they grew into the game Arsenal struck for a second time. Leo Trossard finished off Declan Rice's fine pass with 75 minutes gone in the game.

The visitors did think they had scored themselves when an effort cannoned back off the crossbar and was converted on the rebound but the goal was disallowed for an apparent foul by Dominic Solanke on David Raya.

It looked like a soft decision and a classic case of goalkeepers getting given extra protection.

Arsenal themselves had a goal disallowed when Gabriel fired in a superb effort with his left peg only for the offside flag to go off.

Eventually, the home side got a third goal that they deserved with a quick counterattack late into the game that Rice finished off.

That result puts Arsenal back to the top of the Premier League table ahead of Manchester City's game against Wolverhampton Wanderers this evening.

Securing all three points in N5 ✊ pic.twitter.com/n8fLP7hR8c

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) May 4, 2024