🕟 Kick Off: 12:30 BST

🏟️ Venue: Emirates Stadium

📺 UK Broadcaster: TNT Sports

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: Michael Oliver

📹 VAR: Darren England

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

• Calafiori, Timber, Odegaard, Saka, Hincapie: In his most useful update I’ve ever seen, Arteta confirms that ‘there will be changes’ to ‘some of’ the statuses of players listed above.
• Eberechi Eze: Available. Confirmed by Arteta in the press conference.
• Mikel Merino:Ruled out long-term (Post-surgery rehabilitation).

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟩🟥🟥🟩🟩

🍒 Bournemouth Team News:

• Lewis Cook (Hamstring): Ruled Out. Confirmed absent in Iraola’s press conference earlier today.
• Justin Kluivert (Knee): Ruled Out. Continuing rehabilitation following surgery.

⚽ Bournemouth Form: 🟧🟧🟧🟧🟧

⚔️ Head-to-Head:

• Bournemouth 2–3 Arsenal (Jan 3, 2026, Premier League)
• Arsenal 1–2 Bournemouth (May 3, 2025, Premier League)
• Bournemouth 2–0 Arsenal (Oct 19, 2024, Premier League)
• Arsenal 3–0 Bournemouth (May 4, 2024, Premier League)
• Bournemouth 0–4 Arsenal (Sep 30, 2023, Premier League)

📖 Match Facts:

• Bournemouth are on a 12 match unbeaten run since we beat them in early January on a run including being eliminated from the FA Cup on penalties, and a further 7 draws.
• Bournemouth did the double over Arsenal last season, taking all 6 points from us. They came back from a 1-0 defecit at the Emirates with two goals in the second half to win 1-2.
• Bournemouth haven’t won a game since February 10th at the Hill Dickinson where they beat Everton 1-2.

📸 Previously in this fixture…

Arsenal beat Bournemouth 2-3 at the Vitality Arena in January in a game that ended far more stessfully than it should have. We went 1-0 down within 10 minutes, and were up 1-3 after a Rice brace by the 71st minute. Kroupi got one back 5 minutes later and the game ended 2-3.

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

Arsenal are finally back in league action this weekend with the early kick-off, meaning your weekend could be ruined before it’s even started! Personally, I have faith that that won’t be the case, although one could be worried if they were told Bournemouth haven’t lost since January the 3rd. In that time, they’ve beaten Liverpool and Spurs (although who hasn’t in Spurs’ case), and got draws out of Villa, Sunderland, and Manchester United.

With our failure in the domestic cups still heavy on the minds of Gooners, this game has become way bigger and more important than it needs to be. A last minute winner at Sporting has done little to ease nerves, but there are signs of life in this team. The return of Eze to training is a big boost, we got very lucky that he didn’t miss a single league game. With Odegaard back and now Eze returning, we finally have options in creative midfield, and two very different options at that. It feels like options are something we’ve been lacking this season. We may have grown our squad but it seems like we’ve always had injuries forcing us into playing one player.

The only positive about the early game is that we have the chance to go 12 points clear of City who visit Stamford Bridge on Sunday. I’m not sure that I think Chelsea will have anything for us, but a win for us is all we can ensure that we get. Arsenal go to the Etihad next week, and if the results go against us, we could go there with City 6 points behind us with a game in hand – this would not be ideal.

Following this game there will be 6 left to play for Arsenal in the league this season. This includes trips to City, West Ham, and Palace, as well as welcoming Burnley, Newcastle, and Fulham to the Emirates. Context aside, there isn’t a game in that list that we shouldn’t be able to win. Let’s start with a win against Bournemouth to kick off the run in.