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We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium with our Arsenal vs Bournemouth prediction and preview. Can the Gunners put their cup woes behind them?
Arsenal vs Bournemouth: The Key Stats
- Arsenal are clear favourites, with the Opta supercomputer giving them a whopping 72.2% win probability against Bournemouth.
- Bournemouth (65, scoring five goals) and Arsenal (64, scoring six goals) have recorded the most direct attacks in the Premier League this season.
- Arsenal are averaging 0.71 expected goals against per game in the Premier League this season (22.1 xGA in 31 games), the lowest by any side in a season in the division since Manchester City in 2021-22 (0.65 per game).
Arsenal will be looking to build on their recovery from a recent stumble when they take on Bournemouth in the Premier League at Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
An EFL Cup final defeat to Manchester City was followed by a surprise FA Cup quarter-final elimination at the hands of Championship side Southampton last weekend.
However, the Gunners got back on track with a 1-0 win over Sporting CP in the first leg of their Champions League last-eight tie in Lisbon on Tuesday – though they needed a 91st-minute goal from Kai Havertz to come away with the upper hand.
Still, they will hope to use that momentum to secure a fifth-straight Premier League win for the third time this season, something they have only previously achieved in 2013-14 and 2022-23.
And given the fact they play a day earlier than title challengers Man City, they have a chance to open up a 12-point advantage at the summit that would edge them closer to a first title in 22 years.
It could provide them with a psychological advantage ahead of their clash with Pep Guardiola’s side on 19 April, with Havertz keen for the Gunners to use the Sporting result as a platform for a triumphant end to the season.
“I think we needed that as we were all frustrated with how the last couple of weeks went,” the Germany international said on Tuesday.
“But it’s time to move forward, it’s time to be positive, and it’s time to all stick together as a group – as players, staff, fans. We’re all in this together and we still can make something happen this year.
“It can be something very special, that’s what we’re going to go for, and now it’s time to win games.”
Bournemouth will be no pushovers, though. Andoni Iraola’s team are 13th in the table, but only four points separate them from seventh-placed Brentford. They are also on a club-record-equalling 11-game unbeaten streak in the Premier League.
However, the Cherries have slid down the table after drawing each of their last five top-flight outings. Another draw would see them become the first team to share the points in six straight fixtures since Man City in 2009.
Bournemouth held 10-man Manchester United to a 2-2 draw in their previous outing three weeks ago. Eli Junior Kroupi scored his ninth Premier League goal of the season in that match, and if he gets another before the end of the campaign, he will be the first teenager to register double figures in their first season in the competition since Robbie Keane for Coventry City in 1999-00.
Iraola will be hopeful of having the 19-year-old available after he withdrew from France Under-21 duty during the international break due to injury. Tyler Adams and Lewis Cook will also be pushing for inclusion.
Arsenal, meanwhile, will make a late assessment on the fitness of Bukayo Saka and Jurriën Timber after they were left out of the squad that took on Sporting.
Arsenal vs BournemouthHead-to-Head
Arsenal lost this fixture 2-1 last season, ending a run of eight successive home victories over Bournemouth in all competitions.
Declan Rice opened the scoring for the Gunners on that occasion with what was his fifth Premier League goal against them. The midfielder has scored and been involved in more goals (7) against the Cherries than he has versus any other team.
For Bournemouth, that victory was part of a double over the Gunners, which was more victories than they had managed in their prior 14 league fixtures against them.
Arsenal came out on top in the reverse fixture in January. Evanilson put Bournemouth ahead early only for Gabriel Magalhães to equalise soon after. A pair of goals from Rice ultimately won it for the visitors, despite Kroupi’s late strike.
Arsenal vs BournemouthPrediction
It is hard to look past Arsenal as the victors here, and they came out on top in 72.2% of the Opta supercomputer’s pre-match projections.
With Bournemouth only getting all three points in 11.8% of the simulations, it will be a big ask for them to stop the Gunners from taking another step towards the title. Another draw for the Cherries occurred in the remaining 16%.
Arsenal vs BournemouthPredicted Lineups
Arsenal: David Raya, Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Riccardo Calafiori, Martín Zubimendi, Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke, Leandro Trossard, Viktor Gyökeres.
Head coach: Mikel Arteta
Bournemouth: Djordje Petrovic, Álex Jiménez, James Hill, Marcos Senesi, Adrien Truffert, Alex Scott, Ryan Christie, Marcus Tavernier, Rayan, Amine Adli, Evanilson.
Head coach: Andoni Iraola
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 15,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off on Saturday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for each side.
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