Olivier Giroud scored one and created two as Arsenal produced a great escape to recover from three goals down to claim a 3-3 draw at plucky Bournemouth.
Bournemouth's tenacity and desire to be the first to every ball made life very difficult for Arsenal in the first half and forced them into numerous errors.
Charlie Daniels, who I felt had an impressive game for the Cherries, opened the scoring after 16 minutes before Callum Wilson doubled their advantage from the penalty spot.
Ryan Fraser made it 3-0 shortly before the hour mark, but I felt aggrieved by this particular goal as I genuinely believed there was a foul by Bournemouth in the build-up to it. However, take nothing away from the hosts as they controlled large spells of the game and fully deserved to be ahead.
At that point I couldn't see any way back for us after what was proving to be a very below par performance, but Alexis Sanchez at least gave us a glimmer of hope 20 minutes from time.
Lucas Perez scored a stunning goal five minutes later to get Arsenal right back into the game before Simon Francis was sent off for a clumsy challenge on Aaron Ramsey.
Giroud popped up in injury time to rescue a point for Arsenal and there was still four minutes of added time left to have found a winner. In truth, had we nicked a winner it would have been harsh on Bournemouth who worked tirelessly throughout the match.
Credit must go to the Bournemouth players and their manager Eddie Howe, who is doing a great job at the club. Eight years ago to the day he took charge of his first game for the Cherries - a 2-1 defeat by Darlington - and they were second bottom in League Two. To go from nearly falling out of the Football League to the top half of the Premier League is truly incredible.
I am not trying to mask what was two big points dropped as we really were poor, but Bournemouth deserve credit for doing a really good job on us. They simply never gave up and on another day the score could have been a whole lot worse than 3-3 for us.
In terms of the title race and match expectations, a draw falls very short and is disappointing. However, in terms of how the match itself panned out, it looked like it was going to be much worse so I'll take a point in the circumstances.
Bournemouth had some decent early chances with Junior Stanislas forcing a save out of Petr Cech after just nine minutes, before home fans were calling for a penalty soon after. Sections of the crowd felt the Arsenal goalkeeper had fouled Callum Wilson in the box, but Cech did just about enough to push the ball off the Bournemouth man's feet before any contact took place. It was a crucial save and an early let off for the Gunners.
The hosts refused to give up and eventually got the goal their persistence deserved after some fine work by Stanislas and Daniels. Stanislas picked out his team-mate with a fine crossfield ball before the full-back took it past Hector Bellerin and slotted home. It was poor defending from the Spanish right-back, but Daniels did excellently and took his goal well.
Things went from bad to worse for Arsenal when Wilson slotted home a penalty following Granit Xhaka's clumsy foul on Fraser. Midfielder Francis Coquelin was forced off injured soon after to compound the Gunners' woes.
Arsenal began to wake up slowly as Aaron Ramsey sent a shot just wide after a slight deflection, while Alex Iwobi also sliced an effort off target. At the other end, Bournemouth could have grabbed a third in the first half had it not been for a superbly-timed challenge in the box from the returning Shkodran Mustafi. It was good to see Mustafi make his comeback from injury and in fairness he didn't play too badly, but the team as a whole really were poor in the first half.
Arsenal started much brighter in the second half, but were still nearly undone by Harry Arter. Fortunately the midfielder's goal was ruled out as the referee deemed there had been a handball by Wilson before the ball went in. Although that was a big let off for Arsenal, Bournemouth continued to pressurise the Gunners and did make it 3-0 after 58 minutes. Fraser cut into the area before firing a shot between Cech's legs and into the net. It was a good finish, although I felt Fraser had pushed Bellerin in the build-up. Even so, Bournemouth fully deserved their lead and we only had ourselves to blame.
It could have got even worse for Arsenal had Cech not made a diving save to keep out a Stanislas free-kick as Bournemouth continued to control much of the game. Only an excellent last ditch tackle from substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain prevented Fraser from adding a possible fourth and it was looking as if the horror show might get worse...that was until Sanchez started the comeback. Oxlade-Chamberlain's cross was flicked on by Giroud for Sanchez to score with a diving header.
Although we had been poor for much of the match, it then looked to be game on when Perez added Arsenal's second. The forward latched onto Giroud's flick before beating Artur Boruc with a sweetly struck left-footed volley into the far corner. A great goal and we were now finally beginning to up our game.
But Bournemouth didn't let that deflate them and, in fact, they could have added a fourth had Dan Gosling not curled a shot wide from close range when it looked easier to score.
Bournemouth lost their captain Simon Francis to a red card eight minutes from time after the defender's clumsy challenge on Ramsey. Arsenal took advantage of having the extra man when Giroud rose highest to head home Xhaka's cross in injury time, much to the relief of the visiting supporters. Phew!
OPPOSITION VIEW
Bournemouth fan Tristan Chapman was happy with the result and to see his side above local rivals Southampton in the table.
"It was a game where we didn't expect much but hoped for a lot and our faith was nearly repaid 10 fold," said Chapman. "There was no (Jack) Wilshere obviously so I was keen to see the line-up and was pleasantly surprised by the personnel.
"Plenty of pace to run at the back line, which is exactly what happened. A great first half from little Bournemouth from League Two. Out Arsenaling Arsenal with great interplay and fast attacks.
"The two goals in the first half were not unexpected as the Cherries outclassed our illustrious opponents. Fraser and Stanislas were the main force in the Bournemouth attacking line.
"All hoping that the match would continue in the same vein for the second half, with the third goal being decisive. How wrong we were! The third goal was a sublime piece of skill, but from the substitutions onwards it was all Arsenal.
"Hopefully Eddie Howe has learnt something from the match that moving to a defensive line-up is a massive error. Three goals and a harried central defence leading to a red card to Francis and intense pressure from an Arsenal forward line growing with confidence with every pass.
"In the end Bournemouth were fortunate to get a draw and the six minutes of injury time couldn't end quickly enough. Still, to moan about a draw against Arsenal almost sounds greedy. Still a point earned and a point above Saints and that's what matters."
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
Going into the match I knew it would be tough, but I thought maybe, just maybe, if we could win and Spurs could beat Chelsea for us, we could cut the gap to the leaders to six points. But instead we dropped two big points and were very lucky to even get a draw from a match many had expected us to win.
Take nothing away from Bournemouth though, they really did a number on us and deserve credit for a great battling display. This is only their second season in the top flight and they are holding their own so respect to them.
A draw is simply not good enough for us though and we will need to perform far better than that in the upcoming games if we are to achieve anything this season.
Focus now switches to the FA Cup and the trip to Preston. We cannot underestimate the Championship side, but this is a game we really should win and, with the FA Cup being a competition I love, I'll be disappointed if we don't. We need to go out at Deepdale, and indeed in the next league game at Swansea, and give performances to be proud of and not the one we witnessed against Bournemouth.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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