LONDON (Reuters) -Arsenal cleared another hurdle in their Premier League title quest with a 3-0 victory over Bournemouth in their penultimate home game on Saturday to pile the pressure on Manchester City.
A penalty shortly before halftime converted by Bukayo Saka gave Arsenal the lead, Leandro Trossard eased the nerves inside the Emirates Stadium with a second goal on 70 minutes and Declan Rice added the third deep into stoppage-time.
Victory put Arsenal on 83 points from 36 games with champions City on 79 from 34 ahead of their home clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers later on Saturday.
Bournemouth had cause to feel aggrieved with the Arsenal penalty confirmed after a long VAR check and they also had a goal ruled out in the second half after another VAR check.
Gabriel also had a goal ruled out for Arsenal but Rice put the icing on the cake as Mikel Arteta’s team stayed firmly in the hunt to win a first Premier League title for 20 years.
“We played probably the best first half we’ve played all season. We could have gone three, four, five easily. We scored one,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said.
“Then credit to Bournemouth they changed things and the game became more open which we wanted to avoid.”
With City playing later, Arsenal had the chance to crank up the pressure and they did so in relatively routine fashion even if it did take them a long time to get in front.
As expected, they dominated possession but 10th-placed Bournemouth frustrated the hosts with 10 men behind the ball for much of the opening half.
Trossard twice had shots blocked as Bournemouth threw players in front of the ball and captain Martin Odegaard was also denied early on in the Arsenal siege.
The inevitable nerves surfaced as a mistake by Gabriel let in Bournemouth danger man Dominic Solanke but William Saliba rescued his side with a last-ditch tackle.
SOFT PENALTY
Arsenal made the breakthrough just before halftime thanks to a rather fortuitous penalty.
Kai Havertz was played in behind Bournemouth’s defence and the German’s first touch took him past keeper Mark Travers before he fell to the ground and referee David Coote pointed to the spot.
A lengthy VAR check followed and the decision was allowed to stand despite Havertz appearing to have dragged his foot to initiate contact with the leg of Travers when it would have been simpler for him to convert the chance.
Saka calmly rolled the penalty into the net past a static Travers, his 16th league goal of the season met with relief around the stadium.
“I haven’t seen the replay but I think he touches me,” Havertz said. “I felt the contact and went down. For me it’s a penalty. I said to the goalkeeper ‘you touched me’.”
Bournemouth were more adventurous after the break, aided by Arsenal mistakes, and Solanke had a chance but his angled shot was easily saved by David Raya.
Arsenal then doubled their lead with Rice setting up Trossard for a clinical curling finish for his 11th league goal of the campaign.
There was still anxiety, though, and a crazy goalmouth scramble ended up with the ball in Arsenal’s net but Solanke was adjudged to have impeded Raya with minimal contact.
In the end, Arsenal won with a flourish and will now focus on beating Manchester United and Everton in their final two games and hope that City falter.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)
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