SETTABLOID

Absolutely. We are very disappointed with the result and gutted because we had to play in that context again. Even more difficult than the previous two that we have faced this season to do it with 65 or 68 minutes with 10 men at this level, it’s just an impossible task. It’s an accident waiting to happen not to get the points. I cannot fault the team for their effort, their commitment, to play in the way we had to do it. There was a big moment at 0-0 when we have a one-vs-one with the ‘keeper and we don’t manage to score. Then in the other end we do that.

We have to (look at) ourselves. Tonight we made two big errors that cost us the game unfortunately.

It was a decision made on the pitch. That decision was changed. I don’t think it will change twice. The decision has been made.

There are things that we have discussed in relation to certain topics. What happens today is almost unpredictable – that the winger is going to play the ball to the centre back one touch, and it’s going to be a challenge there with 40 or 35 meters to go.. Very difficult to plan it. But certainly we need to play with 11vs11 if we want to be in the position that we want to be.

Jakub Kiwior was the subject of the dreaded double substitution in Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday evening.

The Poland international had come on to replace Raheem Sterling in the first half in the wake of William Saliba’s first-half red card. Saliba had hauled down Cherries attacker Evanlison as the last man and VAR deemed it a straight red card offence.

He will now miss the next three domestic games, barring an unlikely successful appeal. It was also a drab night for defending colleague Kiwior.

The 24-year-old came on to make his third Premier League appearance of the season, but will want to quickly forget it. His poor pass back to David Raya was intercepted by Evanlison, who was then felled by the goalkeeper.

Arsenal fans couldn’t hide their anger at PGMOL chief Howard Webb after William Saliba was sent off in Saturday’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth.

France international Saliba was shown a straight red card by referee Rob Jones after hauling Evanilson to the ground in the first half at the Vitality Stadium.

Jones initially cautioned Saliba with a yellow card but was sent to the monitor to re-inspect the incident after an intervention by the Video Assistant Referees at Stockley Park.

After reviewing the footage from several different angles, Saliba’s punishment was upgraded from a yellow card to a red, ruling him out of next weekend’s top-of-the-table Premier League clash against Liverpool.

Arsenal suffered a damaging but deserved 2-0 to defeat to Bournemouth in their Premier League clash at the Vitality Stadium. The hosts probably edged the early exchanges as the game struggled to really catch light. It burst into flames around the half-hour mark as William Saliba was sent off in controversial circumstances.

The Frenchman was initially shown a yellow card for tugging down Evanilson just outside the centre circle as the Brazilian threatened to run in on goal courtesy of Leandro Trossard’s wayward back-pass. VAR intervened, though, to send Rob Jones to the screen and overturn his decision.

This forced the match in to a game of attack vs defence – a familiar story for Arsenal this season. The Gunners coped well for large parts and could even have taken the lead through Gabriel Martinelli.

Coming out of the October international break, Arsenal are 10 games unbeaten in all competitions. Across those games – in the Premier League, Champions League, and Carabao Cup – Mikel Arteta’s men scored 22 times and conceded just seven.

It is a continuation of the form at the back end of last season that took them within 90 minutes of lifting the title. 2024 has, with no exaggeration, been almost faultless.

Although there has been one notable slip-up so far – a 1-1 draw at home to Brighton – even that was shrouded in controversy. Injuries and suspension have left Arsenal yet to truly hit their stride but still in an extremely strong position.

For William Saliba, even this is not enough. As one of the outstanding individuals in a team now dominated by impressive characters, his role is as defensive rock.

Arsenal get back to domestic action after the second international break of the season with a trip to the south coast to face Bournemouth. The Cherries have been struggling without Dominic Solanke and the Gunners will be aiming to compound that.

However, there are plenty of unknowns about the state of many of the Arsenal squad. Mikel Arteta faced questions on Friday regarding eight of his team but could only determine that Thomas Partey was indeed fit.

Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Jurrien Timber, Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko were all deemed to be close with some in contention while Takehiro Tomiyasu and Martin Odegaard were confirmed to be out. The line-up could take many forms with little in the way of clarity on the the aforementioned group.

Arsenal know that a win here, though, will send them top of the table. Both Liverpool and Manchester City play on Sunday meaning the Gunners can indeed pile the pressure on their title rivals with a victory.

William Saliba was sent off for committing a last-man foul for Arsenal against Bournemouth. The Frenchman, who was put into a race against Cherries forward Evanilson, was judged to have stopped a clear goalscoring chance.

Leandro Trossard’s wayward backpass left Saliba behind his opponent, through on goal, and in the process of tracking back, the Arsenal defender pulled him down. Initially given as a yellow card by referee Rob Jones, Saliba was dismissed upon a VAR review.

Explaining the decision online, the Premier League Match Centre wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “The referee gave Saliba a yellow card for a challenge on Evanilson. The VAR deemed that Saliba denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and recommended an on-field review. The referee then upgraded the yellow to a red card.”

Saliba now becomes the third Arsenal player this season to be sent off. He follows Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard in that unwanted feat.

Bukayo Saka will miss Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.

The 23-year-old came off with a hamstring injury during England’s 2-1 defeat to Greece over the international break. The problem forced him to miss the subsequent Nations League clash with Finland, but Mikel Arteta had implied that he had a decent chance of making the trip down to the south coast.

“It’s not a serious injury,” the Spaniard said in his pre-match press conference. “He’s evolving really well. He’s done a few things in the last few days when he came back from the national team after the second game. We are hopeful. We have a training session this afternoon and he did some bits yesterday, so let’s see if he can make it on time.”

Saka though, did not travel with the rest of the Arsenal squad to the Vitality Stadium. The England international still remains in contention to feature on Tuesday against Shakhtar Donetsk however.

Jurrien Timber is also missing from the Gunners group for the trip to the south coast. The Dutch international has been absent since coming off at half time during the 2-0 win over PSG prior to the international break.

Kai Havertz, Thomas Partey and Ben White are all fit for the game despite availability concerns. The trio are in Arteta’s starting line up.

Freddie Ljungberg has tipped Alexander Isak to take the next step and would welcome Arsenal signing his fellow Swede.

Isak, 25, has hugely impressed since arriving in the Premier League with Newcastle United two years ago. The striker fired them into the Champions League during an injury-affected debut season in England before becoming even more prolific last term.

Newcastle paid a club-record transfer fee when signing Isak but could already conceivably double the £63million deal they struck with Real Sociedad. Ljungberg hopes his compatriot will make another move to become an even better goalscorer.

The Premier League clash between Bournemouth and Arsenal could see several stars return from injury. The October international break has been challenging for a number of teams, with Mikel Arteta and the Gunners particularly impacted in that respect.

Even before nations had begun playing, Arteta was given a double injury concern after statements were released on Kai Havertz and Thomas Partey by Germany and Ghana, respectively, confirming neither would feature over the break. Just a few days later, disaster seemingly struck with talisman Bukayo Saka picking up a hamstring injury.

However, Arteta’s latest update has revealed he will be able to feature at Vitality Stadium. “It’s not a serious injury, and he’s evolving well,” said Arteta pre-match. “He was probably good [well] enough to play with the national team second game. We have some big tests today [on Friday] so we are hopeful.”

Gabriel Martinelli then also emerged as an injury worry with Brazil confirming that he was sent for an MRI after complaining of calf pain. Those three are the fresh fitness worries for Arteta with Jurrien Timber, Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko having already missed action for Arsenal and still injury doubts.