The young players approached the game as if they had something to prove as Arsenal went on the front foot from the very first minute. A great 22 pass move involving all 10 outfield players ended up with Saka blasting the ball past the Bournemouth keeper to give us the lead after only five minutes. Rather than sit on their laurels Arsenal continued to dominate despite being away from home and a second goal seemed almost inevitable.
That goal came 20 minutes later when Nketiah had the easy task of stroking the ball home after Arsenal played through the attempted Bournemouth press. It was that man Saka who set it up for him, but yet again it was another great team move from back to front. As the first half progressed Bournemouth gradually came out of their shell, but Martinez wasn’t called upon until shortly before the break and he was up to the task.
Bournemouth took a more agricultural approach after the break as they attempted to “put it up ‘em” and put the frighteners on this young Arsenal team. Enter Guendouzi who was simply having none of it as he got stuck in winning tackles and giving as good as he got. I don’t know if it’s Arteta’s influence which was showing in him last night, but whatever it was he was very impressive.
A word for Joe Willock too who I said yesterday might be the player in our midfield to break into the opposition box given the chance. His ability to carry the ball towards the Bournemouth defence was very impressive too and there is a real case for him to play in that role more often. With so many young players willing to give it their all when they get a chance the future certainly looks promising.
I haven’t forgotten Martinelli or Nketiah with the former putting in another great shift and the later doing what he does best and putting the ball in the back of the net. When they were backed up by a disciplined Xhaka the team had a great shape although Xhaka still managed a couple of his usual lapses. He’s being asked to play a deeper role than previously and he’s growing into it as well as regaining the respect of the fans after the incident against Palace earlier in the season.
Bournemouth came into the game a lot more after the break, but for all their huffing and puffing they rarely threatened the Arsenal goal. We were a little vulnerable on crosses as Martinez struggled to impose himself and he got away with a couple of poor punches from those crosses. There wasn’t a lot he could do about the Bournemouth goal when it did come, but at least it was late enough to cause us little bother for the rest of the game.
The goal came in the fifth of almost 11 added minutes at the end of the game and the main reason for all that added time was a very unfortunate injury to Mustafi. He was actually having a very good game on the night and I can’t remember him putting a foot wrong at any stage. The traveling fans were so impressed they were even singing his praises at one stage which is surely something we haven’t heard in a long time.
The injury to Mustafi only increases our need to add a central defender with Calum Chambers already out for the rest of the season and Rob Holding still looking like he has a way to go to get back to form after his injury. We have been linked with a couple of players and it looks like a deal might be on the cards before the transfer window closes on Friday night. If it happens I think it will probably be the only deal we do.
The draw for the fifth round was made before the game and we will face another trip to the south coast to play League One side Portsmouth in early March. We’re getting towards the business end of the FA Cup and a win against Portsmouth would put us through to the last eight if we can do it. I won’t quite say I can smell the sweet air of a Wembley final, but who knows where we might end up come May.
That’s it for today.
See you tomorrow.
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