Two of the best sides to watch in the Premier League come head-to-head at the Vitality Stadium in what should be an entertaining match.
Bournemouth currently sit inside the top-10 after recovering from successive defeats to record a comfortable 3-0 win away at bottom side Swansea City. They are still some way off the European spots but they will survive easily this year.
We all know that Eddie Howe’s men like to attack teams, no matter the opposition, and they are capable of scoring goals. Due to this open style, their defence has been questioned but it now seems that they are capable of keeping clean sheets – as proved in their last two victories against champions Leicester City and struggling Swansea. However, whether they can hold out against the bigger sides is a completely different question.
On loan midfielder Jack Wilshere is ineligible to play against his parent club in this match and that could really hamper Bournemouth’s chances.
The Cherries generally have a decent home record and have won five in their last eight at the Vitality Stadium and will feel they have a good chance against The Gunners on Tuesday.
After Arsenal lost two consecutive matches prior to Christmas, it looked like a classic case of The Gunner’s winter syndrome. However, two victories after the festivities looks to have reignited their title chances – although the nine point gap still looks like too big a mountain to climb.
Arsene Wenger’s side looked typically soft-centred prior to a couple of weeks ago having failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last eight matches, however, their two recent wins both came to nil which will no doubt please the Frenchman.
Arsenal may be plagued by injuries (10) at the moment but it still does not seem to stop them from playing silky attacking football and picking up results.
Those two previously-mentioned losses both came on the road and so this match at Bournemouth presents a chance for Arsenal to put that away record right. The Gunners had not lost a match on their travels in the league since February 2016 prior to those defeats at Everton and Manchester City and will be confident they can get back to their old ways here.
As pointed out in the introduction, this should be a good spectacle with a few goals. Bournemouth do have the ability to cause upsets but I think Arsenal will ‘out-football’ them here. The Gunners have a 100% record against The Cherries in the three matches played and have scored two or more in every fixture against them.
With this in mind, ‘Arsenal to Win and Over 2.5 Goals’, at 8/5, looks a good bet. Both of these two often find themselves involved in high-scoring matches. 56% of Bournemouth’s home matches have seen three or more goals go in, while ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ has landed in 63% of Arsenal’s away matches. Seven out of Arsenal’s eight away wins (all-competitions) have also seen three or more goals be scored.
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