Hargreaves shocked by ‘remarkable’ Arsenal stat as Bournemouth ‘suffocate’ Prem leaders | OneFootball

Owen Hargreaves has questioned both Arsenal’s tactics and their willingness to fight after the damaging 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth.

Arsenal’s season is threatening to unravel, as they lost the League Cup final to Manchester City before being dumped out of the FA Cup by Southampton in a shock quarter-final twist. The Gunners beat Sporting CP 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final in midweek, only to drop more points in the Premier League title race on Saturday.

Eli Kroupi Jr gave the visitors the lead in the 17th minute when he volleyed home at the back post after good work from Ryan Christie and Adrien Truffert.

Viktor Gyokeres levelled from the penalty spot in the 35th minute after a Gabriel shot hit Christie’s arm in the box.

The Arsenal crowd got increasingly agitated in the second half as they continued to lose possession after playing the ball around the back.

This led to Alex Scott scoring the winner in the 74th minute. After Bournemouth won back possession, Scott ran onto Evanilson’s flick to brilliantly send David Raya the wrong way.

Former England midfielder Hargreaves was asked on TNT Sports if the pressure of delivering the title is affecting the Arsenal players. He replied: “First of all, you’ve got to give Bournemouth credit. They were class.

“Their press today suffocated Arsenal, they couldn’t play. The best team in the Premier League in every capacity just couldn’t play, they couldn’t create anything.

“But pressure is a real thing. I do think they [Arsenal] started the game a little bit tired, but every Bournemouth player played with energy. They deserved to win today.”

Analysing Scott’s winner, Hargreaves expressed his concern about Arsenal losing three duels in the build-up.

“We spoke about second balls and duels,” he added. “On that goal, they lost three second balls in one clip.

“I always speak about second balls because they decide games. Brilliant run from Alex Scott.

“If you can press like that, force mistakes, you win second balls and it builds confidence. It creates stress for the other team.”

The pundit was left stunned by the fact Arsenal passed back to Raya 38 times throughout the match.

“It’s a modern trend and I’m not a big fan of it,” he said.

“The ball goes back to the goalkeeper all the time. For a team that presses as good as Bournemouth, all you’re doing is inviting pressure.

“David Raya received 38 back passes today. 38! And this is one of the best pressing teams in the country.

“That is quite a remarkable stat. Raya played the second-most passes in the Arsenal team today, only Declan Rice played one more.

“He’s brilliant with his feet by the way, but why would you encourage that? The crowd gets nervous.”

The defeat leaves Arsenal nine points ahead of City, though that lead could evaporate fast. City have two games in hand, while the two sides will play each other next weekend in a titanic clash at the Etihad.