Will Arsenal improve their away form, or will Bournemouth end their winless streak?

Arsenal are bracing themselves for the last swan song of Antoine Semenyo before he leaves for Manchester City. This could present a tricky situation for the Gunners as he’ll be joining a direct rival in the title race, prompting a bit more effort on his part. However, Arsenal know the job they have to do and have the tools to complete it. Mikel Arteta’s men are in excellent form right now and are creating chances for fun. Aston Villa witnessed what Arsenal can do when they’re clinical with their chances.

Form

Bournemouth have had an extremely tough time of it over the last couple of months. They just haven’t been able to get any game over the line and currently sit on a 10 match winless run. This run stretches back to October. The results are evenly split between draws and defeats, but they’ve had some impressive draws in this run. The 2-2 draw against Chelsea was great, as well as the 4-4 draw with Manchester United. So, they’re capable of a good result and this is exactly why we can’t take them lightly. We’ll be wise to remember we haven’t beaten them in the last three times we’ve faced them.

The Cherries sit way down in 15th, but have scored the most goals in the bottom half of the table. Actually, you have to look all the way up in 6th for a team that’s scored more goals. This proves that they’re still a force to be reckoned with and we’ll need to be defensively secure. Going the other way is where Bournemouth have their issues. Only the bottom three teams have conceded more goals than Andoni Iraola’s men. The xG table has the Dorset side sitting in 11th, so they’re underperforming right now. They should be sitting on 27 points, not 23.

Injuries/Absences

The injury list for Bournemouth looks worse than what it is. They’re only really missing one, possibly two players that could affect the starting lineup. Tyler Adams, Matai Akinmboni, Veljko Milosavljevic, Ryan Christie and Ben Doak are all likely to miss this clash. The biggest piece of news is certainly the fact that Semenyo will be available for selection. Despite an imminent exit, Semenyo will have one last chance to help Bournemouth to victory.

For Arsenal they’ll certainly be without Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera. Declan Rice hasn’t trained yet and is reportedly still dealing with swelling on his knee, but he’ll face a late fitness test. Kai Havertz wasn’t pictured in Arsenal training today, but that sometimes will happen if they’re assigned a different training schedule.

Bournemouth Predicted Lineup

Bournemouth set up with a traditional defensive line. Four at the back with overlapping full backs. Truffert and Jimenez like to get forward when possible. Without Tyler Adams the Cherries will won’t be able to sit with a defensive minded midfielder. Unless Iraola decides to tinker with the personnel, it’s likely that Alex Scott will have to restrict his tendency to play box-to-box which will help Arsenal. Ahead of the midfield, Bournemouth will use a basic two winger, one striker and one attacking midfielder setup. The two wingers will often switch wings to create confusion. Kluivert will be the creative pulse of the team. Evanilson will work tirelessly up top.

Arsenal Predicted Lineup

As I mentioned in my Aston Villa review, I think Arsenal will rotate and kind of need to. We host Liverpool next Thursday and our main stars need to be fit and fresh for that one. Our defence won’t be able to rotate much due to injuries to Mosquera and Calafiori. However, with Ben White back, Jurrien Timber can be subbed off if the game allows for it. I’d like Christian Norgaard to start ahead of Mikel Merino as I feel he stabilises the midfield the best with no Declan Rice. Thankfully we can rotate our front line as Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Martinelli can maintain a high level. We’d still have Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Leandro Trossard waiting in the wings. In addition to Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz.

Predicted Result: Bournemouth 0-2 Arsenal

I do feel like Arsenal can optimise the fresh legs of Madueke, Eze and Martinelli to devastate the Bournemouth defence. Bournemouth are a dangerous outfit, especially with Semenyo still available, but I trust our defence can soak up anything they have thrown at them. We just have to avoid a red card this time around. We have to end our little winless streak against Bournemouth at some point, so I think it’ll be on this occasion.