Arsenal VS Bournemouth Football Match Score 20 Aug 2022
Arsenal will try to keep pace at the top of the table Saturday when they visit newly-promoted Bournemouth for a 2022-23 English Premier League match. The Gunners opened the season with a 2-0 victory against Crystal Palace before their comprehensive 4-2 win against Leicester last Saturday. Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League table last season, two points behind Tottenham for the automatic Champions League qualifying spot. Now, some new additions have the Gunners aiming higher, and they don’t want to slip up on Saturday. Bournemouth finished second in the Championship in 2021-22 to earn promotion after two seasons in the second tier. They opened their season with a surprising 2-0 win against Aston Villa, but they faced reigning league champion Manchester City last Saturday and was run ragged in a 4-0 loss.
Arsenal will aim for their third straight win in the Premier League when they meet Bournemouth in the next away fixture on Saturday, 21 August. The Gunners have got a flying start to the season with two thumping wins against Crystal Palace (2-0) and Leicester City (4-2). Bournemouth started the season by surprising everyone with a fantastic 2–0 win against Aston Villa. However, the Cherries couldn’t continue the same momentum and faced a 0-4 loss against Man City in the last match. The famous Brazilian striker, Gabriel Jesus leads the attack for the Gunners. Jesus has already added 2 goals and 2 assists to his name this season. He also maintained an average of 1.5 key passes per game.
The Wales professional footballer, Kieffer Moore spearheads the forward attack for Bournemouth. Moore has scored 1 goal so far at an average of 0.5 shots per match. The Midfield panel of Arsenal consists of players like Gabriel Martinelli and Granit Xhaka. Martinelli has scored 2 goals as of now and he is playing at an average of 2.5 key passes per game. Xhaka has added 1 goal and 1 assist to his name till now. He also got 71% success in the ground duels. Marcus Tavernier and Philip Billing are some of the key midfielders for the Cherries. Tavernier has played the first two games at a passing accuracy of 79% with 73% dribbling success. Billing has maintained his passing accuracy at 80% this season, winning 67% of the aerial duels.
Ben White is one of the top defenders for Arsenal. White is playing the current at an average of 4.0 tackles per match with 75% success in the aerial duels. Oleksandr Zinchenko is another crucial defender who is having an average of 3.0 tackles per match so far with 59% success in the total duels. In the defense department, the Cherries rely on Jordan Zemura and Lloyd Kelly. Zemura has played at an average of 3.0 tackles per game so far with 60% success in the total duels. Kelly’s clearance average looks very good at 6.5 per match. He also got 100% success in the aerial duels. Arsenal: It was a mouth-watering encounter to watch at the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal did everything to impress the home fans. The new inclusion, Gabriel Jesus who came from Man City to Arsenal, proved his worth by scoring back-to-back goals for the Gunners.
An own goal from William Saliba gave the opportunity for a comeback to Leicester. However, Xhaka scored just 2 minutes later to keep the lead of 2 goals. Maddison’s goal in the 74th minute again reduced the gap between the two sides but once again, Arsenal was quick to restore the lead through a goal from Martinelli. Overall, it was a commendable performance from the Gunners. Bournemouth: It was always going to be a mammoth task for Scott Parker’s side to compete with the defending champions in an away fixture. Bournemouth tried their best to get into the opposition half and create chances for a goal but they were not even near to scoring. Nevertheless, it must have been a good learning experience for the Cherries and they will look to not repeat the same mistakes against Arsenal.
Arsenal certainly seems like a much stronger side as per the team strength and current. They will surely look to consolidate their position in the top 4 and target to dethrone Man City with a consistent performance in the upcoming matches. On the other hand, Bournemouth will aim to repeat the heroics from the first match against Aston Villa. It will be a big challenge for them to avoid a home defeat on Saturday. All the predictions and betting platforms are favoring Arsenal for this fixture. Joe Rothwell and Ryan Fredericks remain out but Jordan Zemura is in contention after recovering from Covid-19. Arsenal could name the same starting XI in each of their opening three games of the season for the first time since 2003. New signing Fabio Vieira is fit and may make his debut, while Cedric Soares and Emile Smith-Rowe are also available.
Arsenal have made a great start to the season, and Gabriel Jesus has made the difference. There was a lot of hype about his arrival and he is backing it up – he is not in my Fantasy team, though, so I hope he doesn’t score again this time. I still don’t think we should get carried away by what the Gunners are doing, and I still don’t think they will challenge for the title this season – but I can understand why their fans are excited. If you look at the scoreline, Bournemouth got walloped by Manchester City in their last game, but they actually didn’t do that much wrong. They are at home this time and might think this is a game where they can go for it a little bit more. I don’t think it will work, but the Cherries will not roll over even if they go behind.
Arsenal overcame their Premier League season-opener trauma with an important 2-0 victory at Crystal Palace. Then the 4-2 result at home over Leicester City displayed what many believe this team can look like, consistently, this season. However, the next three matches are just as, if not more, important. To be a true top four team, and eventually get back to challenge for titles, Arsenal have to clinically put away teams in the bottom half of the table – home and away. Up next is a trip to newly promoted Bournemouth before home fixtures against Fulham (also just promoted) and Aston Villa. Win those, and without injury, and we might be on the brink of a special season.
Interestingly, Saturday’s match will be only the 13th time these two sides have ever met. Arsenal have a 9W-2D-1L record against Bournemouth with the only loss back in 2018. When Bournemouth reached the Premier League for the 2015-16 season their first match against Arsenal (December of that season) was the first time the two clubs had played since 1987. And never prior to that. Despite our familiarity with the Cherries over the past decade, it’s a very limited history against the Arsenal. We may have only lost once to the Cherries in our 10 previous top-flight meetings, but Scott Parker’s side will be full of confidence after gaining promotion last term via a second-place finish in the Championship, and beat Aston Villa on the opening weekend to extend their unbeaten home run to 11 league games.
Parker has stood by the same players that won promotion last term, with the major arrivals being attacking midfielder Marcus Tavernier from Middlesbrough and recently-capped Argentina international centre-back Marcos Senesi from Feyenoord. Joe Rothwell, Ryan Fredricks and experienced goalkeeper Neto have also come in to add depth, while the high-profile departures saw Gary Cahill and Robbie Brady leave for pastures new. It remains to be seen if results between now and September 1 will prompt Parker to add more new faces before the closure of the transfer window. The progression that they’ve made in terms of the signings this year has only enhanced and improved them even more. Another year under Mikel as well can only be beneficial. We’ve got a big challenge ahead of us at the weekend, a technical team, a positional team, that have huge quality all over the pitch.
Kickoff in Bournemouth, England is set for 12:30 p.m. ET. Arsenal is the -240 favorite (risk $240 to win $100) on the 90-minute moneyline in Caesars Sportsbook’s latest Bournemouth vs. Arsenal odds. Bournemouth is a +675 underdog, a regulation draw is priced at +360 and the Over/Under for total goals scored is set at 2.5. Before you make any Arsenal vs. Bournemouth picks or English Premier League predictions, you need to see what proven SportsLine soccer insider Martin Green is saying.
