Bournemouth-Arsenal is a seventh-day Premier League match and is played on Saturday at 4pm: TV, line-ups, predictions.
Mikel Arteta’s substantial turnover didn’t stop Arsenal from making it through the League Cup round. Earlier in the week the Gunners went on to win at home to Brentford – technically another London derby after last Sunday’s clash with Tottenham – thanks to a Nelson goal in the eighth minute of play, reaching the round of 16.
Once they had taken the lead, Jorginho and his team-mates – the Italo-Brazilian wore the captain’s armband – essentially limited themselves to managing, preventing the Bees from finding the equalising goal. The victory at the Community Stadium was not enough, however, to take away the bitterness of the 2-2 draw with the much-hated Spurs, who were able to twice retake Arsenal: this time the Gunners’ defence’s nightmare was not Harry Kane, who moved to Bayern Munich in the summer, but the South Korean Son, author of a double. A draw that did not allow the London club to keep up with the others: Manchester City, the only team with a full score, is already +4; but even Liverpool, second behind Pep Guardiola’s men, seems to have something more at the moment.
Before the challenge with Lens in the Champions League, Arsenal will face Bournemouth away but will have to do so without some key players such as Rice and Saka, who are injured.
Iraola
The former West Ham midfielder was injured against Tottenham and is unlikely to recover for the Cherries match. Arteta actually also has problems in attack, where in addition to Saka, the long-serving Martinelli will also be missing. Bournemouth have so far only won in the League Cup: after the one against Swansea in August, on Wednesday the Rossoneri won against Stoke (2-0). In the Premier League, however, they are still without victories. Three defeats and as many draws for Andoni Iraola’s men.
The prediction
Bournemouth will be able to cause a few problems for a depleted Arsenal side who are not yet in top form, but in the end we believe the Gunners will still come out on top, even if they keep their goal unbroken. The Cherries have scored just one goal in three games at home, drawing with West Ham and Chelsea and losing to Tottenham.
Bournemouth-Arsenal’s likely line-up
- BOURNEMOUTH (4-2-3-1): Neto; Aarons, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kerkez; Cook, Billing; Tavernier, Christie, Ouattara; Moore.
- ARSENAL (4-3-3): Raya; Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Jorginho, Havertz; Nelson, Nketiah, Gabriel Jesus.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 0-2
