Arsenal vs Bournemouth: Instant Reaction

Not the most instant of reactions but it took me a while to get the vibes into words

Holy. Shit.

It is really hard to get the blood pressure down enough to make coherent thoughts turn into sentences that people would want to read. I am fairly certain I had just expletives and fragments for a good fifteen minutes after the final whistle.

I will do my best here to put together what I am feeling after that roller coaster of a match and have a full stats debrief Sunday or Monday.

Headline: That was not the plan

When I got up this morning and looked at the lineup, I wrote down this in my notes:

“Arsenal make 3 changes. Going with Tomi, probably to go more back three to give Thomas Partey less defensive duty on counter coverage and allow Vieira to push up into the attacking line.”

I think that was probably the plan but it was ruined within a few seconds as Bournemouth execute a great kickoff routine that ends up in a big chance. It still took a bit of luck with a missed clearance but it was still incredibly dangerous and caught Arsenal totally unprepared and sucker-punched them. From that point, the plan changed massively with Bournemouth going almost full 11 men behind the ball and looking to clog things up for Arsenal.

Arsenal nearly responded but Bukayo Saka, who had been so clutch couldn’t put a rebound away.

The plan changed again with Leandro Trossard going down injured (after tracking back to help keep the game at 0-1).

Those opening 22 minutes went pretty much not how the plan was drawn up as well. That early goal looked to have Arsenal really rattled. I think it made the team go a bit into panic mode pushing forward a bit too much, and over-committing players forward leaving the back door open.

In that period Arsenal could have easily been 2-0 down and looking at the title challenge on fumes again. Thankfully that was not to be with the team fighting back to get it level and then having what might be the moment of the year with a 98th-minute winner.

Thankfully it did not come back to haunt Arsenal and while they did go 2-0 down, it feels like if it had happened at 20 minutes rather than 50 minutes the psychological punch would have drained the team and the crowd (going into soft factors, look at me).

When Arsenal did get the equalizer I thought they had Bournemouth on the ropes and would have put that third past them in the 70th-minute range.

It just never came.

The time kept slipping away, with my hope going with it.

BANG.

HOLY SHIT.

And Arsenal won.

I still am having trouble describing the feeling. It is pure ecstasy and if you could capture that you would be a very rich person selling that feeling.

This run of matches never felt like it could win Arsenal the title but it did feel like a stretch of matches where Arsenal could lose it. That is two last gasp winners to turn draws into wins. 6 points vs 2 points is a massive difference right now and as the number of matches remaining met away holding a gap by any means is paramount.

It still might slip away but it won’t be because Arsenal bottled it or the moment felt too big for this team. They have shown a mentality that reflects incredibly well on them.

What a day.

Stock Rising: Reiss Nelson

This has to be the choice.