Preview: Bournemouth vs Arsenal | Pre-game report | News

Iraola: “Sometimes it’s best not to look at all the stats when faced with these types of opponents. You have to respect them, but maybe not that much, and try to focus on the things we can do to hurt them. We played less against them. “So last season we weren’t the team we wanted to play against them. It's a challenge for us.

Team news

Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey and Gabriel Martinelli have all left their national team squads during the international break due to treatment, but Mikel Arteta said none of them had suffered serious injuries.

Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber missed the games in Germany and Holland due to problems, while Ben White was out for three weeks with a groin problem. Kai could be in the running against Bournemouth.

Martin Odegaard (ankle), Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (thigh) remain out.

Neto is not eligible to play against his parent club.

As for the hosts, Tyler Adams has been out all season so far due to back surgery. However, he is close to a return to the first team. The same goes for Milos Kerkez, who trained this week and could be available on Saturday.

Conversation tactics

Adrian Clarke: “When you play against a team coached by Andoni Iraola, it is always dangerous to play from the back. His style of play is based on wild, well-organized pressing. This is why no one has had more shots from high turnovers (18) than Bournemouth so far this season, with the second-highest tally of high turnovers (75). Care will be required in our own half.

“The Cherries are very hard-working all over the pitch so this is a competition where we will have to work hard to win the physical battle. Because they are rarely outdated, they will test our resolve with their rapid action.

“Mikel Arteta will also be aware of how quickly Iraola’s side can break through. They move upfield at an average of 2.16 meters per second, the fastest of all 20 top-flight teams, and Bournemouth are also third in direct attacks. Once they win the ball back, they want to move it forward vertically and quickly.

“One weakness they have shown is that they start slowly at the start of each half. They scored one goal and conceded four goals within the first half hour, and in the 15 minutes after half-time their goal difference is 0-3. Catching them off guard will be one of our goals at Vitality Stadium.

“Bournemouth's star player was Antoine Semenyo. The 24-year-old has already scored three goals and provided an assist, so he's brimming with confidence. He will play either on the right wing or up front as a striker, and in both roles his power, pace and quick feet are difficult to manage.

“Semenyo has taken ten shots from his own ball throws this season and also made six important passes from those dribbles. That's why it will be important for us to limit the scope in which he has to operate. If we give the Cherries winger space to run into, he could hurt us.”

Facts and statistics

Bournemouth have lost 11 of their 14 Premier League games against us. Since their return to the top flight in 2022, we have won all four meetings with an aggregate score of 13-2, scoring more than 3 goals each time.

We are unbeaten in all 10 games in all competitions so far this season, the last time we had a longer unbeaten run (the first 21) was since the start of a season in 2007/08.

Since the start of the 2022/23 season, we have not lost any of their eight Premier League games immediately following an international break (W6 D2), with each of the previous five such games also being played away.

Kai Havertz has been involved in 20 goals in his last 21 Premier League appearances (13 goals, 7 assists) and has scored in each of his last four appearances in all competitions.

No player has more secondary assists (the pass before the assist) in the Premier League this season than Thomas Partey (3).

Raheem Sterling has been involved in 14 goals in just 13 Premier League games against Bournemouth. His 10 goals are the most he has scored against any opponent in the competition. He is the highest scoring player in the competition against Bournemouth.

Bukayo Saka has scored 49 goals in the Premier League. He was 23 years and 44 days old on the day of that game and could become the youngest to score 50 goals for the club in the Premier League.

Only Barcelona's Raphinha (32) has created more chances than Saka (27) in Europe's five major leagues this season, while the Englishman leads Europe when it comes to big chances (12) and assists (7).

Match officials

Rob Jones has been tasked with officiating Saturday's game. He has refereed eight games so far this season, handing out 44 yellow cards and three red cards.

He hasn't been involved in an Arsenal game since March, when he dropped six players in our 2-1 home win against Brentford.

Referee: Rob Jones
Assistants: Neil Davies, Simon Long
Fourth official: Tim Robinson
VAR: Jarred Gillett
Assistant VAR: Harry Lennard

Previous meetings

We've enjoyed two memorable away days at the Vitality Stadium since Bournemouth returned to the top flight in 2022/23. Last season we celebrated a 4-0 win on the south coast thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz's first for the club and Ben White.

The previous season, Odegaard scored twice to secure a 3-0 win, made memorable thanks to William Saliba's long-range strike, which was also his first Gunners goal. In fact, the Cherries have only won one of their seven Premier League home games against us, back in January 2018.