Arsenal lost 2-1 to Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium, offering Manchester City an opportunity to close the gap before the Gunners travel to the Etihad Stadium next weekend
It was a tough afternoon for Arsenal, giving Man City fresh hope in the title race
Declan Rice was seen offering support to Martin Zubimendi in Arsenal’s loss to Bournemouth. The 27-year-old midfielder, who joined the Gunners from Real Sociedad for £60m in the summer, endured a nightmare afternoon at the Emirates Stadium as the Cherries cruised to a 2-1 success.
Between Rice and Zubimendi, possession was surrendered 29 times throughout the encounter against Andoni Iraola’s outfit. The pair delivered precious little quality in midfield – they were outclassed by Ryan Christie and Alex Scott, who were instrumental in prolonging Bournemouth’s unbeaten streak to 12 matches.
During the opening period, as Viktor Gyokeres lined up his penalty, a supporter posted footage to Reddit showing the moment Rice recognised Zubimendi was battling. Eager to boost his colleague’s morale, the England international wrapped his arm around the Spaniard.
Rice tapped Zubimendi’s chest while calling out something in his ear. Myles Lewis-Skelly also offered comfort to the midfielder, as did Gabriel Magalhaes, who attempted to energise him through a brief exchange and a handshake.
Noni Madueke extended his encouragement to Zubimendi as well, clasping his hand too. Despite their collective attempts to rally the midfielder, he subsequently bore responsibility for the decisive goal, neglecting to follow his marker into the penalty area.
READ MORE: Mikel Arteta sends message to bruised Arsenal stars after painful Bournemouth defeat
After a midfield turnover, Zubimendi was left flat-footed as Evanilson played in Scott, who slotted the ball past David Raya from close range to wrap up three vital points. Speaking to the press after the final whistle, Mikel Arteta described the defeat as a ‘big punch in the face’.
The Arsenal manager said: “Well, extremely disappointing. It’s a big punch on the face. That’s what I said to the boys. And now it’s about how we react to that. Because game on, you’re going to require now a big speed, a lot of fight and very clear. How are we going to approach that?
“There’s no grey areas. We are in, we are out. And we need to be very, very, very strong and determined to approach it in a different way than we’ve done today, especially when the game wasn’t going our way.”
When asked whether he had concerns about his side’s response, Arteta said: “No, because I’ve seen them before in many scenarios and I’ve seen them for nine months. But today, there were some very basic things that we did extremely bad against their team.
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“When you do that, they’re going to capitalise, stretch the pitch. Again, it becomes very chaotic and very difficult to control. So, yeah, it’s a lot of good things that they’ve done, obviously, credit to them. But I think there’s a lot, a lot, a lot in our plate to look at ourselves.”
Arteta added: “What I’m trying to do is give our best to the club, give the responsibility to our players. And I know if the atmosphere, the fans, the support, the energy in the stadium is the best in the world.
“We have a much better chance. I don’t think that there’s any other possibility to perform better than when you have that kind of support. But then we have to respond.
“And we had moments in the first half where we did it and there were other moments that we were on our level. So, yeah, we have to apologise to them and improve.”
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