Arsenal vs Bournemouth preview, team news, tickets, and prediction - Gunners Town (2024)

Arsenal, one of the Premier League title challengers this campaign, will be keen to keep the dream alive when they host Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium in this particular round of 36 encounters.

The Gunners are sure of playing in the Champions League for a successive season but they have the title chase on their hands for this one. On the other hand, the Cherries have already secured their spot in the Premier League for another season and have absolutely nothing to worry about when they come into this clash.

Arsenal had a title challenge last season before falling at the final hurdle to Manchester City/ After that strong performance, the Gunners experienced a flurry of activity during the summer transfer window, witnessing significant player departures and notable acquisitions. Long-time servant Granit Xhaka departed for Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga. At the same time, Folarin Balogun moved to Monaco, goalkeeper Matt Turner to Nottingham Forest, Pablo Mari to Monza in the Italian Serie A, and Rob Holding to Crystal Palace.

Several players also went out on loan, with Kieran Tierney joining Real Sociedad, Nuno Tavares to Nottingham Forest, and promising winger Marquinhos to FC Nantes. Nicolas Pépé, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and Sambi Lonkonga left on free transfers, finding new homes at Trabzonspor, Olympique Lyon, and Luton Town, respectively.

On the recruitment front, Arsenal secured prominent signings, including Declan Rice from West Ham, Kai Havertz from London rivals Chelsea, Jurrien Timber from Ajax Amsterdam, and the current starting goalkeeper David Raya on loan from Brentford.

On the pitch, Arsenal had a fine start to the season beating Nottingham Forest 2-1 before going ahead to beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at Selhurst Park with a strong defensive display. That result was followed by a 2-2 draw with Fulham at home then a run of back-to-back wins over Manchester United and Everton before a 4-0 win in the UEFA Champions League. Upon return to the Premier League, Arsenal drew 2-2 with Spursbefore another run of three consecutive Premier League wins over Brentford, Bournemouth, and champions Manchester City.

The first defeat of the season came in round 11 against Newcastle in controversial fashion. Having put that defeat behind them, the Gunners embarked on six consecutive wins in all competitions before a second loss of the season to Aston Villa. Arteta’s men ended the year with two consecutive losses against West Ham United and Fulham in the London derbies. Since then, the Gunners have been superb in 2024 dropping points only once against Manchester City. As of the time of writing, they sit top of the pile by goal difference.

On the other hand, the Cherries were busy in the transfer market in a bid to strengthen their squad, recruiting the likes of Tyler Adams from Championship side Leeds, Hammed Junior Traorè from Sassuolo, Alex Scott from Bristol City, Milos Kerkez from AZ Alkmaar, Romain Faivre from Olympique Lyon, Justin Kluivert from AS Roma and Max Aarons from Norwich. Players who joined on loan include Enes Ünal from Getafe, Luis Sinisterra from Leeds and Andrei Radu from Inter Milan.

In terms of departures, Bournemouth let some players leave on loan including Hammed Junior Traorè to SSC Napoli, Romain Faivre to FC Lorient, David Brooks to Southampton, Jaidon Anthony to Leeds, Joe Rothwell to Southampton, Kieffer Moore to Ipswich, Mark Travers to Stoke City, Jamal Lowe to Swansea, Emiliano Marcondes to Hibernian FC, James Hill to Blackburn, Gavin Kilkenny to Fleetwood and Will Dennis to Kilmarnock FC while Jefferson Lerma, Jordan Zemura and Jack Stacey sealed free transfers to Crystal Palace, Udinese Calcio, and Norwich respectively.

They had just 39 points last season but they have already garnered 41 as of the time of writing. Andoni Iraola’s men have done well not to involve themselves in this end-of-season relegation fight and can start looking forward to next season.

In the head-to-head, Arsenal have won 11 matches. Bournemouth won one game and two matches ended in a draw. On average in direct matches, both teams scored 3.36 goals per match. It shows it is usually a high-scoring contest when the two sides meet.

Match tickets

The epic match at Emirates Stadiumin London kicks off on Saturday, 4th of May 2024 at 12:30 GMT.

The 60,704-capacity stadium in London is set to host this very exciting match-up.

Getting Arsenal vs Bournemouth ticketscould take a lot of work given the standard of this game. Hence, you are advised to search ticket reselling sites should they be expectedly sold out on each club’s channels.

Team news

Line-ups

Mikel Arteta has been able to call on the full complement of his squad in recent weeks. Apart from the likes of Fabio Viera (groin) and Jurien Timber (knee), the squad is relatively fit and good to go in games. Raya has remained the undisputed number one this campaign and will be called upon to be in goal again. Meanwhile, Kai Havertz, who has been key in recent weeks, will feature for the hosts in this game.

Arsenal XI:Raya, Kiwior, Saliba, Gabriel, White, Havertz, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Jesus, Martinelli

Bournemouth do have several Injury concerns. Ryan Fredericks (Calf) and Luis Fernando Sinisterra (Thigh) are ruled out for this game, while the likes of Chris Mepham, Antoine sem*nyo and Tyler Adams should all feature.

Bournemouth: Neto, Smith, Mepham, Zabarnyi, Kerkez, Christie, Cook, sem*nyo, Kluivert, Tavernier, Solanke

Prediction

Arsenal needs no introduction, and with their impressive and dominant style of play, that should take them past Bournemouth.

Iraola’s Cherries play with controlled aggression and are defensively solid. By embracing counter-pressing, they harmonize with their opponents enabling them to match the play style of the opposition and level the playing field.

However, they should not be able to trouble the Gunners in this game. So, this should end in a comfortable win for Mikel Arteta’s men.

Arsenal 3-0 Bournemouth

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