Arsenal Can Still Finish 2015 On Top

Match Preview: Arsenal vs. Bournemouth – Premier League 28.12.2015

Well, that was pretty rubbish. No sooner had the City result sunk in and Leicester presented Arsenal with a chance to go top the very same players that had bossed Manchester City more than the scoreline suggested completely bottled it against struggling Southampton and shipped four goals.

We can complain all we like of the unjust calls by the referee but even with a competent performance from the officials it's unlikely Arsenal would have emerged with even a point given their lacklustre showing. They looked threatening before the first goal but seemed to just give up once Martina's wonderstrike nestled into the bottom corner.

Defensively, we were all over the shop. Offensively, we had little in the tank and Southampton did extremely well to nullify our rare threats. Koeman placed two players on Özil and completely drowned him out of the match, our other midfielders and attackers did nothing to exploit the space this left or tempt the Saints into taking a man off Özil.

It was a bad day at the office, where only Cech came out with any dignity, the team will look to him tonight for leadership, and thankfully we have barely blinked before another one is ahead of us to divert our attention. In some respects Arsenal are quite lucky and the horrendous defeat to Southampton may mean little in the grand scheme. Leicester and Man City play each other tomorrow by which time, should Arsenal do their job properly, the Gunners will be top. Both will be under pressure to overtake or catch Arsenal up and that plays in the favour of Wenger's side.

Should City win, Arsenal remain top. If it is a draw then Arsenal stay top. And, should Leicester win, Arsenal have regained the points lead they earned over City last Monday. Arsenal might be behind Leicester but with a run of Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal in February it won't be for long.

Tiredness should not have been an excuse against Southampton and now it can't be against Bournemouth. The players didn't do enough to justify being tired 43 hours later.

Some changes need to be made to shake things up a bit but whomever gets the nod cannot have a single excuse for not helping the team to an emphatic win today although I'm sure we'd all take a nervy 1-0 win if it was offered to us right now.

LAST 3 Meetings

Arsenal and Bournemouth have only met once before, a league cup match in 1987 which the Gunners won 3-0

FACTFILE

• Bournemouth will become Arsenal's 80th different league opponent.
• Arsenal are unbeaten in seven home matches since an opening day loss against West Ham (W5, D2).
• Bournemouth are unbeaten in six Premier League matches (W3, D3), which includes a run of seven points from nine away from home.
• They have gone 21 league matches without defeat against promoted sides (W17, D4).
• Only 13 of Arsenal's 31 league goals this season have been scored at home.
• Eddie Howe's side kept only their third clean sheet of the season on Boxing Day.
• The Gunners have not lost their final Premier League game of a calendar year since 2006, when they were beaten at Sheffield United.
• The Cherries have won on five of their last six league trips to London, including at Chelsea earlier this month.
• They have conceded a league-high 12 goals from set-pieces this season.

Stats courtesy of Opta

INJURIES

Wilshere, Welbeck, Coquelin, Cazorla, Alexis, Arteta, and Rosický will all miss out. Flamini might be rested having only just passed a late fitness test against Southampton.

POSSIBLE STARTING XI

Čech; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Monreal; Chambers, Ramsey; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Campbell, Walcott, Giroud.

GOONERSPHERE'S PREDICTION 

Arsenal 2 - 0 Bournemouth

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