There was a real sense that Arsenal were letting what looked a momentous season slip away after they followed Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City with a shock quarter-final FA Cup exit to Championship side Southampton.
But facing a tough away assignment against Sporting in the last eight of the Champions League, the Gunners dug deep in the first leg in Lisbon and dug out a 1-0 win that makes them hot favourites to reach the semi-finals.
The quadruple has gone but the double of Premier League and Champions League is still very much on. Victory in Saturday’s early game over 13th-placed Bournemouth would put Arsenal 12 points clear and although it leaves Manchester City with two games in hand, that’s a significant gap now we’re coming down the home stretch.
Arsenal v Bournemouth kick-off time
Arsenal v Bournemouth kicks off at 12.30pm BST on Saturday, April 11 at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal v Bournemouth how to watch
The game will be shown live in the UK via TNT Sports and HBO Max. Coverage begins at 11pm.
TalkSPORT will provide live radio coverage.
Arsenal team news
Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber and Eberechi Eze all missed Tuesday’s Champions League tie in Lisbon.
Saka and Timber could return but Eze is unlikely to be involved while Mikel Merino and Piero Hincapie are definitely out.
Bournemouth team news
The Cherries are without Julio Soler, Justin Kluivert, Lewis Cook and Tyler Adams.
Striker Junior Kroupi is considered 50:50 due to an unspecified injury.
Arsenal v Bournemouth odds
Arsenal are just 2/5 to record what would be a 13th home Premier League win of the season (from 16 played).
Bournemouth are 13/2 to cause a shock while The Draw is 7/2.
Arsenal v Bournemouth prediction
You get the sense that nothing will come easy for Arsenal during the run-in.
And to raise fears that Bournemouth could take something, the Cherries are the Premier League’s draw specialists. They’ve played out 15 stalemates in 31 matches, drawing seven of 15 on the road.
And as if to live up to that reputation, Andoni Iraola’s men have drawn each of their last five Premier League games – a run which includes 0-0s at West Ham and Burnley along with a goalless draw at home to Brentford.
It’s tempting to back the draw but a smart move could be to head to the Winning Margin market and take Arsenal to win by 1 Goal at 3/1.
Four of Arsenal’s last six wins were by the minimum margin and it would have been five but for Everton’s Jordan Pickford coming up for an injury-time corner and allowing Max Dowman to run through and make it 2-0.
