Red Saturday: Arsenal see red again to the cherries delight while Saints capitulate
The Premier League was back in action on Saturday after an international break which saw Thomas Tuchel appointed as the new England manager. The feature of Saturdays action was red cards with five awarded in total, again Arsenal were involved in the drama as they lost to Iraola’s Bournemouth, as well as Southampton who looked set to take three points at home to Leicester but somehow came away with nothing after going down to ten men.
Bournemouth 2-0 Arsenal
Don’t get it twisted, although it’s only October this is a huge blow for Arsenal as they lose their first game of the season at the Vitality stadium. Arteta was without Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard for this game which seriously affected his team’s performance. Despite these two key absentees the Spaniard would still have been hopeful of taking all three points against Bournemouth who lost last time out against Leicester City.
Arsenal’s disciplinary record has been quite heavily discussed during the opening months of the season, this being their third red card in the Premier League campaign after just eight games. The question is, do Arsenal have a disciplinary problem? In our opinion, the answer is yes. While the two red cards that they received vs Brighton and Manchester City were debated by the Arsenal fans rigorously, the reality of both incidents were that they showed the gunners naivety and poor decision making in key moments. Individual errors are costing them as they have a 100% win record when they have eleven players on the pitch for the entirety of the game.
There seems to be an air of entitlement surrounding Arsenal at the moment with them being the main ‘challenger’ in the title race, they seem to believe that the rules don’t apply to them. The red card Saliba received vs Bournemouth can’t be disputed. As you can see, Evanilson is going to reach the ball before David Raya and Ben White, therefore he is clearly through on goal. The red card had a massive impact on the game, Arsenal were unable to find any kind of rhythm and Bournemouth put in an outstanding performance which was worthy of taking all three points.
Saliba’s red card
Iraola has been renowned for his positivity and willingness to press opponents no matter who he is up against. At times this season, that hasn’t worked as we saw away at Anfield. More often than not though, Iraola’s tactics are spot on and means that Bournemouth are able to cause the opposition so many problems without allowing them to settle or feel comfortable at any given moment. This game was a great example of Bournemouth’s positive approach working to a tee. As you can see from the average positions below, the cherries played high up the pitch, with the two wingers Semenyo and Outtara both playing narrowly, and the full backs providing the width. They focused their attacks down the left, with Kerkez playing a key role in offering them that threat out wide. Senesi was the stand out player, giving them a resolute base at the back and not letting the Arsenal attackers have a sniff. Senesi won four out of four of his attempted tackles, and five out of seven of his aerial battles.
(Source: www.whoscored.com)
The substitutions from Iraola were inspired, with Ryan Christie coming on to finish off a beautifully crafted set piece routine that Arsenal would have been proud of. Exciting winger Justin Kluivert also came on and scored from the penalty spot after some good attacking work from Evanilson to win the spot kick. This shows the depth that Bournemouth have in their side and that will serve them well, being able to bring on players of real quality against tired legs is a key ingredient for success in the Premier League. The two goals were enough to seal the win for the home side and Arsenal left the stadium with their tails between their legs.
As a result of Saliba’s red card he will now miss the next three games, including a pivotal one against Liverpool next Sunday at The Emirates. They will have to wait to see on the fitness of Bukayo Saka whose injury was described as ‘not serious’, but coming up against Arne Slot’s side without Saliba presents a real challenge. Martin Odegaard is expected to be back, with Arteta claiming in an interview that he should be in contention to feature next week.
Southampton 2-3 Leicester City
At the bottom of the league, Southampton and Leicester were both desperate to get some points on the board and would have looked at this fixture as a real opportunity to take all three points. The home side are yet to win in the Premier League since returning after promotion from the Championship last season. So far, the jury is out on Russell Martin who has shown a stubborn attitude to stick to his possession based style of football, with a necessity to pass the ball out from the back despite his side conceding several goals while attempting to do just that.
Southampton started the game on the front foot and looked fired up. An early corner saw Jan Bednarek hit the crossbar, before Archer saw his ambitious acrobatic effort go wide from the rebound. The key attacking threat for Southampton was Kyler Walker-Peters, who used his pace and dribbling ability to cause Leicester problems down their right hand side. It was Walker-Peters whose driving run caused an opening at the back, allowing him to find Manning ahead of him on the left, who played it to Archer in the middle to sweep the ball home and make it one nil.
Walker-Peters was again the instigator for the second goal, creating space for himself with some dazzling skill on the left, and pulling the ball back for Joe Aribo who accepted the chance and made it two nil after 28 minutes. Saints fans would have been jubilant and full of optimism, expecting their side to kick on and get their first win of the campaign.
Early in the second half, right back Sugawara produced an inviting cross which centre back Wout Faes nearly headed into his own goal, only his keeper saved him with a fine diving stop. As the second half continued however, it was Leicester who started to cause the Saints problems. Abdul Fatawu and Facundo Buonanotte were the standout attacking players, with Fatawu coming on in the 59th minute. His balance, pace and direct running gave the Southampton defenders nightmares. In a tactical shift, Martin moved Walker-Peters over to the right with Ryan Fraser coming on for Sugawara. This substitution proved to be a real turning point in the game. Fatawu got the better of Fraser and put the ball across the six yard box for Buonanotte to tap into an empty net in the 64th minute.
The momentum shift was evident and things went from bad to worse for the home side after an incident in the 73rd minute. Mavididi’s deep cross was headed back across goal at the back post by Fatawu, Vardy looked primed to score but Ryan Fraser’s pull on his shirt stopped him from getting to the ball. After VAR intervened, Leicester were awarded a penalty and Ryan Fraser was given a red card for the denial of a goalscoring opportunity. Vardy smashed home the penalty emphatically to draw Leicester level.
Ryan Fraser see’s red
With Southampton down to ten men, Leicester pushed for the winner and eventually, in the final moments of the game they got it. A short corner found Jordan Ayew unmarked on the edge of the box and he placed his shot into the corner. Ramsdale managed to get a touch on it but the ball still found the net. Utter heartbreak for Southampton who had gone from jubilation to despair in the space of 45 minutes.
If the jury was out for Martin before, his position now will be seriously under threat. It seems that his expansive style of football isn’t well suited for a relegation battle in the Premier League and the squad he has just hasn’t quite got the quality to perform in the way that he wants them too. For Leicester City this is a huge victory, and well deserved for their fightback in the second half. Steve Cooper got it right with the substitutions, his side are now six points clear of the relegation zone, performing better than they were predicted to. It sets up an exciting game next Friday evening when they host Nottingham Forest infront of the Sky cameras.
The rest of the days action:
Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 West Ham United
Another poor performance from Lopetegui’s men as West Ham crumble again. How long does he have left?
Kudus loses his rag and see’s red.
Ange has found the right blend as Kulusevski and Son shine in a ruthless attacking display.
Manchester United 2-1 Brentford
Ten Haag buys himself more time once again as United put in a good second half display, Garnacho’s goal is well worth a second viewing.
Brentford fall short this time but have some more favourable fixtures on the horizon.
Newcastle 0-1 Brighton
Welbeck continues to sparkle, but goes off the pitch with a serious looking injury.
Eddie Howe’s men have lost the last two and need more from their Swedish striker.
Fulham 1-3 Aston Villa
Fulham get off to dream start as Raul gets his fourth goal in eight games.
2 red cards for Anderson and Philogene, is this the volume of red cards that we are going to see from now on?
Rogers and Watkins inspire comeback for Villa to continue their strong start to the season.
Ipswich 0-2 Everton
N’diaye and Keane see off Ipswich in a strong, ‘street-wise’ Everton display.
Ipswich still winless as the Premier League reality starts to set in.
Written by Joe Horne
