Bournemouth comeback hands Arsenal more pain
Bournemouth breathed life into its European hopes after second-half goals from Dean Huijsen and Evanilson inspired the Cherries to a 2-1 comeback win away at Arsenal.
Preparations for Arsenal's second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final at Paris Saint-Germain hardly went to plan as the Gunners suffered another disappointing collapse at Emirates Stadium.
Declan Rice opened the scoring after 34 minutes finishing from a delicate Martin Odegaard pass, while Evanilson passed up two opportunities in the opening period.
However, as was the case in its 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace last time out in the Premier League, Arsenal had no match to a spirited performance from the visitors after the interval.
Huijsen headed home Bournemouth’s 67th-minute leveller from substitute Antoine Semenyo's long throw-in, stunning the home crowd into silence.
Evanilson then latched onto Marcus Tavernier's flick-on from Alex Scott's left-sided corner to poke in the winner eight minutes later, with the goal standing after a video assistant referee (VAR) check for handball against the striker.
The comeback leaves second-place Arsenal three points clear of Manchester City, while Bournemouth climbed to eighth, two points above Fulham after the Cottagers’ loss at Aston Villa.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has called on his side to use the pain of this loss as motivation when it comes up against PSG next week.
"We started the game and a lot of the things we wanted happened," he said.
"We should have killed the game, and we didn't. On top of that, if you defend your box from two set-pieces in the way we have done, you're in big, big, trouble.
"We should have put the game to bed. We defended really poorly, nowhere near the standards that we are used to.
"We wanted to generate the momentum and a really positive vibe today – we haven't.
"What we have created is frustration, rage and anger – we have to make sure we use that on Wednesday [Thursday AEST]."
