Following today’s clash between Bournemouth and Arsenal, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Bournemouth hosted Arsenal at Dean Court on Sunday January 14, with the hosts taking a two one victory.
Arsenal had opened the scoring in the 52nd minute of the second half as Hector Bellerin found the net, but Callum Wilson and Jordan Ibe hit back in the final 20 minutes to take all three points.
Bournemouth extended their unbeaten run to four games as they pulled further away from the bottom three, but Arsenal are now five without a win across all competitions and have slipped five points adrift of fourth place in the table.
A big talking point from the game was Alexis Sanchez being left out with Wenger believing his future would be decided in the next 48 hours.
Teams:
Bournemouth:
Begovic, Francis, S Cook, Ake, A Smith, L Cook, Gosling, Daniels (Mousset 63), Ibe (Pugh 86), Fraser, Wilson (Afobe 90+1).
Substitutes:
Boruc, Surman, Arter, Simpson.
Arsenal:
Cech, Chambers (Ramsey 74), Mustafi, Holding, Bellerin, Wilshere, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles, Iwobi (Walcott 76), Welbeck, Lacazette.
Substitutes:
Mertesacker, Ospina, Kolasinac, El Neny, Nketiah.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Kevin Friend blew the final whistle, Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe explained.
‘A huge win for us. Every win in the Premier League is important. It was a tight game, not a lot in it, but we showed the spirit and desire to come back from a losing position. I am delighted with the attitude of the players today. Our fitness levels were very good – statistically we are one of the fitter teams in the division. In this division if you can get two or three wins your whole outlook can change, then if you get two or three defeats it all changes. We have just tried to be very stable. That was a famous win for the club.’
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger in his comparative interview explained.
‘We were 1-0 up and suddenly we lost two goals and we don’t know where they came from. It is very frustrating. Overall we have to look at it in a very objective and harsh way – we made mistakes we should not have made. The team that fights against relegation will fight and you cannot afford any concentration mistake. One-all was not good enough for us. We had to win the game. I think if you look again at the second goal we made many mistakes and that is what we paid for.’
