Two of the most attack-minded teams in the Premiership will clash when Bournemouth host Arsenal at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday. The Cherries have dazzled neutrals all season with a marauding brand of football that has seen them scale the dizzy heights of sixth in the table as we approach late November. They display a great deal of ambition and they take risks in order to throw men forward in a bid to score, but it does leave them exposed at the back. Arsenal are past masters at such tactics and they continue to leak goals under new boss Unai Emery, so we should be in for a cracking contest this weekend.
Last season Bournemouth picked up their first victory Premiership against the Gunners when they beat them 2-1 at this stadium. The end was nigh for Arsene Wenger as fans grew sick of their team’s brittleness on the road, and Bournemouth claimed a famous win. However, Arsenal are a tougher nut to crack under Emery and they head into this game protecting a 16-game unbeaten streak. Yet they have drawn their last three games and they will be desperate to return to winning ways and keep pace with the likes of Tottenham and Chelsea.
The oddsmakers shows you that Arsenal are favourites to take all three points. The highest rated top betting sites are offering even money on an away win and that looks like a tempting option. Bournemouth are the sort of team that Arsenal typically thrive against: a side that do not park the bus and play them at their own game. They have the attacking firepower to overwhelm Bournemouth, but write Eddie Howe’s men off at your peril.
The Cherries have won six out of 12 games so far this season, and at home they have only lost one in six. That was a 2-1 reverse against Man Utd, but Bournemouth can count themselves unlucky to have fallen to Marcus Rashford’s 93rd minute winner. Overall they have been magnificent at home, attacking with flair, dynamism and pace throughout the season. Striker Callum Wilson is now a fully fledged England international and he will be full of confidence against an unconvincing Arsenal central defensive partnership. Bet Victor has 17/10 on a home win, while the draw is 11/4 or 14/5 with most bookies.
Yet it might be worth avoiding the outrights and looking at goals markets instead. Marathon Bet is offering 3/4 on both teams to score and over 2.5 goals and that looks like a great option. It has paid off in Bournemouth’s last three games, and Arsenal have been scoring with gleeful abandon and conceding with alarming regularity too, so we really should be in for a goal fest. Mesut Ozil is well overdue a big game, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette both need a goal and the Gunners have further options in the likes of Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, so they should be good for a couple of goals here.
One remarkable statistic so far this season is that Arsenal have not led at half-time in a single game. Considering they have seven wins under their belt, that is pretty amazing and it shows just how strong they are after the break. They have been level at half-time in nine games and losing in three, so draw at half-time in this contest looks really tempting at 5/4 with William Hill. Bournemouth have never been in a losing position at half-time at the Vitality so far this season, as they have led three games and been level in the other three.
