Bournemouth 2 Arsenal 1: Arsene Wenger's Gunners throw away lead as Callum Wilson inspires fightback

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James Benge14 January 2018

Arsenal lurched further into crisis as they threw away a hard-won lead in a 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth.

The Gunners’ sixth Premier League loss of 2017-18 bore all the hallmarks of similarly dismal defeats against Watford and Stoke as Arsene Wenger’s side failed to capitalise on their brightest periods, with Hector Bellerin’s goal all they had to show from the first hour.

Calum Wilson pounced to bring Bournemouth level with 20 minutes to go and Arsenal fell apart, allowing Jordon Ibe to strike the winner soon after.

Wenger named the same side that had battled to a 0-0 draw at Chelsea in midweek, with Alexis Sanchez bound for Manchester before the transfer window closes.

In truth it has been the injured Mesut Ozil who Arsenal have really missed and that was only too evident at the Vitality, where the Gunners could not cut through the Bournemouth defence.

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Jack Wilshere gave it his best shot, displaying an exceptional range of passing from deep alongside Granit Xhaka.

The problem came when the ball got closer to the box, with wing-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles the only visiting player to go close in the first half when his powerful effort cracked back off the crossbar.

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Alexandre Lacazette, whose goal drought extended beyond 10 hours early in the game, nearly turned provider with a through ball to Danny Welbeck, whose stabbed finish was blocked by Asmir Begovic. But Arsenal were not making their dominance count and nearly paid for it in the final five minutes of the first half when Bournemouth raised the intensity.

The hosts should have had a penalty when Alex Iwobi handled a free-kick in the area and soon after Ryan Fraser was only denied the opener by a diving block from Calum Chambers.

But just as the game seemed to be drifting away from Arsenal early in the second half two of the chief whipping boys for the Gunners recent struggles offered a timely reminder of their quality. Iwobi judged his through pass to perfection and Bellerin, with Lacazette and Welbeck in support, went for goal. Begovic got a hand to the ball but could only watch it trickle beyond him.

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Arsenal looked to be in control for about 10 minutes but it is not for nothing had they won just three of 11 league games away from the Emirates this season and their soft underbelly was exposed by the excellent Fraser, whose superb cross from the right found the corridor of uncertainty in which Wilson beat Cech to stab home an equaliser.

Wenger ditched the back three in search of a winner, replacing Chambers with Aaron Ramsey, and it made an immediate impact. No-one tracked the run of Ibe into the area and he was on hand to hammer home after substitute Lys Mousset teed him up.

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Arsenal remain just five points off the Champions League spots before Liverpool host Manchester City but, with Sanchez bound for elsewhere, they have never looked further from Europe’s top table.

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