Key Highlights
- After Unai Emery’s Aston Villa felt the force of the Premier League leaders in a 4-1 thrashing, this time it was Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth who were vanquished despite being gifted the opening goal by Gabriel Magalhães. The Brazilian promptly equalised before Declan Rice capped his return from injury with two goals as Arsenal moved six points clear at the top, even if they had to survive a nervous last 16 minutes after the substitute Eli Junior Kroupi pulled one back.‘We rolled over’: Parker angry at Burnley as Rutter and Ayari end Brighton’s lean runRead moreMikel Arteta had promised that his players would learn from last season’s defeat here and a 2-1 loss to Bournemouth in May when Liverpool had already been crowned champions.
- After a sloppy first half it seemed they still had some way to go to heed the lessons of previous seasons, but they were so much sharper after the break, no doubt with a few home truths from their manager still ringing in their ears.
- With Rice in this kind of marauding form and a fifth straight league win in the bag, Arsenal will take some stopping in 2026. Villa’s win over Nottingham Forest earlier in the day had cut their lead to three points.
- But the news that Rice had passed a late fitness test was a reason for Arteta to feel optimistic despite slumping to a 2-0 defeat here last season.
- Probably with Thursday’s meeting with Liverpool in mind, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard were introduced only from the bench in the second half after Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli had been handed rare starts.
