Arsenal put the pressure back onto Manchester City in the Premier League title race after their comprehensive 3-0 triumph over Bournemouth at Emirates Stadium. (More Football News)
Mikel Aꩵrteta's side moved four points clear at the league summit with this victory but Man City have tw𝔍o games in hand, the first of which comes at home to Wolves later on Saturday.
Bukayo Saka opened the scoring from the penalty spot on theܫ stroke of half-time, with Arsenal securing a deserved reward for their fi🤪rst-half dominance.
Leandro Trossard and Declan Rice made sure of thr🌱ee points with late finishes as defeat left Bournemouth – who had an Antoine Semenyo strike ruled out in the ꦏclosing stages – 10th in the table.
A flowing Arsenal move almost ended in Trossard converting Ben White's 10th-minute cross, only﷽ for a last-gasp Marcos Senesi block to thwart the Belgium forward.
Bournemꦗouth had Mark Travers to thank soon after as the goalkeeper deni🐻ed fizzing efforts from Kai Havertz and Saka, as well as a one-on-one with William Saliba.
Travers' one-man resistance continued when pu🌠shing away Thomas Partey's low left-footed curling attempt before Rice fired narrowly wide following Havertz'ꦅs delicate header.
Yet▨ Arsenal finally got their breakthrough as Travers felled the marauding Havertz – with the VAR confirming the spot-kick decision – before Saka coolly swept into the bottom-left corner from 12 yards.
Saka should have doubled his tally after the interval but arrowed a glorious opportunity straight at Trജavers 🃏following a smart offload from Havertz, who went close minutes later.
The otherwise unneeded David Raya was forced into action at the other end to deny Dominic Solanke after 53 minutes, while ꦛJustin Kluivert whipped a free-kick just over.
That spell of Bournemouth pressure came to an abrupt end with 20 minutes to go when Rice twisted to play 😼through for Trossard, whꦆo slotted a smart right-footed finish into the bottom-right corner.
The Cherries thought they had snatched a goal back just three minutes later but Semenyo𒈔's rebounded strike after Ryan Christie hit the crossbar was ruled out for a Solanke foul on Raya, with the VAR confirming the on-field decision.
Arsenal then suffered a similar fate with the officials as Gabriel Magalhaes' rocketed volley was disallowed for offside, but Rice wꦕas not to be denied in stoppage-time as he fired Gabriel Jesus' throꦓughball under the helpless Travers.
Advantage Arsenal thanks to super Saka
Arsenal have won 14 of their 16 Premier League games so far in 2024, dropping ꦆpoints on♉ly against Man City (0-0) and Aston Villa (0-2) this year.
That incredible run of form ensures a tantalising title race will continue towards the final two games of the season, when Arsenal travel to Manchesteꩲr United and then host Everton on ཧthe last day.
Their success this term can be somewhat apportioned to star winger Saka, who became the first player to score 20 goals for ꦜArsenal in a season across all competitions since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2019-20 (29 goals).
Saka is also the first Englishman to do so for the clꦑub since Theo Walcott in 2012-13 (21 goals) as the England internation✤al continues to deliver in key moments for the Gunners.
Cherries blunted by dominant Gunners
Bournemouth had won 1-0 at Wolves and 3-0 against Brighton in their last ൲two Premier League games before this – but they hav🐼e never triumphed in three consecutive top-flight games without conceding.
A wait for three straight such victories will go o﷽n into next season, though Andoni Iraola will look back on this campaign with f🍸ond memories.
They have never won more matches in a top-flight season than their 13𓄧 in 2023-24 (also 13 in 2018-19) and – despite this underwhelming performance – will have another chance to set an outright club record when they host Brentford before visiting Chelsea on the final d🎉ay, with a top-half finish still possible.
