{"id":12568,"date":"2026-01-04T09:58:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T09:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12568"},"modified":"2026-01-07T15:06:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T15:06:20","slug":"cherries-no-arsenal-are-top-of-the-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12568","title":{"rendered":"Cherries? No, Arsenal Are Top Of The Tree!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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One question before the match was whether Antoine Semenyo would start for Bournemouth? He did. Had Arsenal made a cheeky bid, bearing in mind Mikel Arteta\u2019s comments about watching the transfer market \u201cand its timings carefully\u201d and Semenyo declaring himself an Arsenal fan? I guess that is now highly unlikely as he started against us but you never know \u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team lined up as: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hinkapi\u00e9; \u00d8degaard, Zubimendi, Rice; Madueke, Gy\u00f6keres, Martinelli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Declan Rice was passed fit despite his demonstrating a huge swelling on his knee to Morgan Rogers on Tuesday evening. Unless he was indicating the swelling his wife is experiencing as she is apparently expecting triplets if social media are to be believed. The swelling appeared to be down around the knees though. Poor lady, if so! In any event, his fitness was a surprise to me as the likely causes of such a swelling would be soft tissue damage, cartilage damage or an inflamed bursa, all likely to require time to settle. Anyway, let\u2019s not question it too much when we finally get one bit of good injury news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our bench looked as strong as I can remember with Kepa, White, Lewis-Skelly, N\u00f8rgaard, Merino, Eze, Saka, Trossard and Jes\u00f9s. No place in the squad for Nwaneri or Havertz whose exclusion was for management reasons rather than any new injury worries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The match<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bournemouth made a very energetic start and forced two early corners before Arsenal were able to settle into their more familiar pattern of passing and control which culminated in \u00d8degaard unfortunately shooting high and wide into the crowd. Madueke then shot similarly after an impressive dribble through the left side of the Bournemouth defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With just 10 minutes on the clock, Gabriel received the ball from a throw on and, under no pressure, made a completely uncharacteristic mistake in passing straight to Evanilson who was standing unmarked in the middle of the 18 yard line. The latter gratefully accepted his surprise, late Christmas gift and passed into the far corner of the net leaving Raya with no chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Bournemouth 1-0 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took the King of Brazil a mere 5 minutes to atone for his error with not a header, but a shot fired home with a striker\u2019s aplomb after great approach work by Madueke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Bournemouth 1-1 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zubimendi was next to give away possession which led to a dangerous passage of play that thankfully ended with no further damage. Whatever transfer thoughts were in Semenyo\u2019s head, he was definitely not going easy on us and he earned himself a yellow card for a foul at the midpoint of the half. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A supposedly depleted Bournemouth side were busy, pressing quickly and aggressively, and clearly well coached and organised by Andoni Iraola. Arsenal, for their part, we\u2019re finding it difficult to get control of a lively, bouncing ball – was that really an FA approved model? – that seemed to ricochet it\u2019s way round the pitch. In truth it was because Bournemouth do not allow you a single kick without a challenge of some kind or other. Fair play to them but it made for a scrappy game, doubtless exactly as they would have wished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Referee Kavanagh was, by now, up to his usual tricks, this time picking on Victor Gy\u00f6keres instead of Declan Rice, with some strange decisions. Declan was finding it hard to disguise his bewilderment. The Sky commentary team of Bill Lesley and the rather stupid, obviously anti-Arsenal Don Goodman were, however, delighted. Where do they manage to find these prats week after week? \u201cBrilliant defensive work by Semenyo, nothin\u2019 in it \u2026.\u201d claimed Goodman as the Bournemouth man ran, holding Rice\u2019s arm back for ten yards. When Semenyo then shot 20 feet over the bar, \u201cthe intent was really good though \u2026\u201d said Goodman, failing to hide his disappointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, a frustrating half after the brilliance of the second half against Aston Villa. Too much possession was given away – a point emphasised by Arteta after the game – against a hard working Bournemouth. I think the team still looks unsure of quite how to attack and get Gy\u00f6keres into the game. Long early balls do not come naturally to this Arteta drilled formation. They are what Gy\u00f6keres needs and he failed to make any kind of impact again in this first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 HT Bournemouth 1-1 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were no changes in personnel at the beginning of the second half. Arsenal were exerting better control and on 53 minutes Gy\u00f6keres fought for possession in the box. The ball was worked to \u00d8degaard on the edge of the area and his clever lay off invited Rice to fire home from 17 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Bournemouth 1-2 Arsenal <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Bournemouth\u2019s continued harrying, the Arsenal now looked fairly comfortable, although the improved control was failing to increase our slender one goal lead. I really don\u2019t want to pick on Gy\u00f6keres but I found myself getting more and more frustrated with him. Too often he was walking around, failing to even jump for high balls and he was doing nothing to affect the game at all. CER made a great comparison a short while ago when he said his defensive work reminds him of Theo Walcott – slowing down as he chases an opponent so as to not quite make the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found myself yearning for Jes\u00f9s just as he appeared on the touch line with the manager. Was this another miracle or just coincidence? Whichever it was, our little Gabi was introduced on 65 minutes together with Bukayo Saka and Leo Trossard as Gy\u00f6keres, Madueke and Martinelli made way. It actually reminded me of a game at Watford in the Arsene Wenger era when Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires emerged from the dugout in the second half. Graham Taylor, Watford manager at the time, looked across at Arsene and said \u201cyou used to bring on decent subs!\u201d
Five minutes later quality told. Saka and \u00d8degaard exchanged passes and Rice netted his second of the evening from Bukayo\u2019s cut back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Bournemouth 1-3 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madueke did well today on the whole but he does not have Saka\u2019s end product. Very, very few do but Saka is so calm in possession, rarely gives it up and has unfailing end product. I hope they\u2019re not, but if Miles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri are getting frustrated at their lack of game time, it\u2019s worth remembering that at their age Saka was still playing at left back. Patience lads – your time awaits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bournemouth brought on three substitutes of their own on 74 minutes to try to improve their lot and one of them, Junior Kroupi, did just that, firing home a terrific rising drive from 25 yards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bournemouth 2-3 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal inspired Bournemouth to scrap even harder, and the commentary team to get even more excited. The Bournemouth scorer was carded for a cynical foul on Trossard and Mikel Merino replaced Martin \u00d8degaard in midfield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExcellent refereeing!\u201d shouted the idiotic Goodman as Saliba was kicked in the Achilles and Kavanagh took the play back to award Bournemouth a free kick. On 86 minutes, Trossard won a corner. With no discernible delay, I thought, Goodman opined that the referee was allowing Arsenal \u201cway, way too long\u201d to take it. A Bournemouth defender then clung on to Jes\u00f9s\u2019 leg, and another gathered the ball with his hands into his fallen body on the ground. Free kick to Bournemouth was Kavanagh\u2019s decision! <\/p>\n\n\n\n


Six minutes of added time were indicated by the fourth official. Adli – the misspelt supermarket from Bournemouth – bent to head Gabriel\u2019s elbow, threw himself on the floor and tried to claim a penalty. A claim shown by video replay to be entirely ridiculous. Even Kavanagh agreed. He then did something quite strange and equally ridiculous. He allowed Semenyo to launch one last long throw, bang on 96 minutes. Yikes, no! Why? I thought. He then blew the final whistle as soon as the throw had been headed away which enraged the Bournemouth faithful and allowed one final carp from Goodman – \u201cwhy would he blow up then?” he posed, uselessly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FT Bournemouth 2-3 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last season, TTG became so incensed by Sky\u2019s commentary and punditry that he wrote to the broadcaster in protest at their anti-Arsenal bias. Of course, he got nothing of substance in return. In fairness to Kavanagh, despite some odd decisions, I think he got the major decisions around the penalty areas right today. It was the commentary surrounding them that really riled me. Yes, I am in a heightened state of anxiety after three seasons of near misses, not to miss out on the title again. Yes, I am biased but hopefully not stupid. But these clowns employed by Sky week after week are really ruining any pleasure in watching the televised games. The one week recently we were treated to Martin Keown on co-comms, there were comments in the studio calling him out for his bias. The kick back continued into Monday morning when TalkSport ran a whole debate on national radio as to whether he had been too biased with his comments!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess I should try to ignore it but the nonsense is relentless. All the sweeter when we finally win the thing, I know. On that note, Merse said after today\u2019s game, \u201cArsenal didn\u2019t play well and scored three goals. That tells you something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the beginning of January. We are top of the Premier League. We are top of the Champions League. We are in the semi final of the Carabao Cup. This team is showing a remarkable maturity and resilience. They are mentally tough. There are leaders and warriors all round the team. We have an elite manager. We are seven points clear of Manchester City. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let the commentators carp. I\u2019ll take it ! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One question before the match was whether Antoine Semenyo would start for Bournemouth? He did. Had Arsenal made a cheeky bid, bearing in mind Mikel Arteta\u2019s comments about watching the transfer market \u201cand its timings carefully\u201d and Semenyo declaring himself an Arsenal fan? I guess that is now highly unlikely as he started against us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12568"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12611,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12568\/revisions\/12611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}