Bournemouth is a team in form, and they played well. It seemed as though their coach Iraola set them up to keep it close in the first half, which they did, but that's risky. Havertz won a soft penalty late in the half which Saka scored, but it should probably have been 3-0 by then, but for some wayward finishing and last ditch defending. The Cherries came out swinging in the second half and presented some threat. (For the game, Arsenal had an expected goals of over 3 and Bournemouth had an xG of about .37.) Eventually, the Gunners' high press wore the Cherries out and Trossard got a second Arsenal goal off nice work from Rice. Rice got the last goal deep into stoppage time. Bournemouth had the ball in the net after our second, but Raya had been pushed out from under a ball he'd have caught otherwise, so it was disallowed. The refereeing was not great. Saka's thigh was bloodied by a late studs-first challenge and no card was issued, for instance. Fouls were given for infractions that at other times were ignored. We got the big decisions, and I think we were lucky to get both of them. They seemed close to me.
City did us one better in the goal difference contest, beating Wolves 5-1. Our GD is now six better than City's. GD will only come into play if City draw one of their three remaining games (and the rest are won by us and them), so let's assume they do that. For them to make up the six goal difference, they'd have to get a GD at least + 8 in those two wins. (Because we'd be at least +1 in each win, natch.) It's possible, but unlikely, and if we can pad our GD in our two games it may be out of City's reach. But they have to drop points for us to have a chance. We shall see.
MC should be penalized by relegation - post-season. This business of adding and taking away points from teams mid-season should be stopped. It is unfair to the other teams. Luton, for one, who have played hard. Everton a well. It looks like almost a yo-yo year for the teams at the bottom.
ReplyDelete