Arsenal's tale of comebacks continues.....
Arsenal's home, at Emirates was a cauldron of emotions. 90 minutes and importantly a few more minutes of drama was played out in an undulating wave of emotions. Despair in the first few seconds and joy in the last few seconds. "Vice versa " would apply depending on whether one is an Arsenal or a Bournemouth fan.
It was to be routine, the swaggering league leaders were to face the elimination zone residents. To everyone going to Emirates, it was supposed to be yet another weekend of football. The Arsenal supporters' idea of the day was simple. Arsenal would start aggressively, score in a few minutes and then settle down to score a few more. The fans would have a nice day, a few beers with mates on the way home, and then a few more at the pub around the corner in the village.
But then, it is never so simple, is it??
Bournemouth take lead, as Arsenal is stunned
The Cherries, in the Premier League after a lifetime of languishing in the punishing lower leagues, were not visiting to make up the numbers. They had a cheeky idea on kick-off and they executed it to perfection. They lined up on the start line loaded to the left, and with the first touch sent the ball deep into Arsenal's half on the right flank. As the Arsenal formation tracked back, Ouattara sent it a cross from the edge of the box, it took a deflection of an Arsenal defender, and a willing Philip Billing guided the ball past Ramsdale and put himself into the record books with the second-fastest goal in Premier League history.
It wasn't going to be a good day for the gunners, the fans sensed it. They now had to do their bit and they tightened their belts and cleared their throats.
For much of the first half Arsenal to their credit attacked. With almost 90 percent possession and more than 400 passes to Bournemouth's meagre 69, Arsenal was in control. The Bournemouth defensive line which threw bodies at everything and closed down all gaps kept them away. Hovering forever on the edge of the box, the Gunners could just not get through. They went into the break trailing disaster of the opening minute.
It was all the same after the break, Arsenal kept possession, kept pushing, and got nowhere. Approaching the hour, Marcos Senesi, recently signed from Feyenoord, rose to meet a corner and pinged in a razor-sharp header into the net. Thomas Partey the nearest defender, looked woefully out of place and almost looked like he was helping Sensi climb into that corner.
To the most ardent of fans, it looked like a lost cause now. However as it has been all season, the young gunners kept plugging away. Bournemouth kept everything out, corners were being conceded by the minute but the score stayed as it was. On the hour, Bournemouth cleared a corner out of the box. Smith Rowe, a substitute for Trossard ,who had limped off early in the first half, headed it back into an unmarked Thomas Partey who obliged with a tap-in.
The comeback was on.
Arsenal's stunning comeback
The scarfs were whirring in the stands, and the noise around was thundering. Arteta continued to furrow his brow as ideas whirred noisily behind those brows.
Sometimes, when the chips are down and your dreams seemed destined to be derailed, a crazy idea seems to be the best. In what turned out to be a masterstroke, Arteta turned to Reiss Nelson and pulled Smith Rowe off. Nelson, reduced to being an outlier in Arteta's plans due to injury, and having played about 60 minutes all season, was thrown into the cauldron.
The Arsenal left wing looked a bit busier with Nelson being fed in by the ever-busy Partey and Zinchenko. Seven minutes on the field and Nelson ran down the left and whizzed in a flat cross across Neto's goal. As it went across the middle of the box, Ben White with some space to operate , ran in and volleyed it into the ground and onto the goal. Neto clawed it back, but the referee's high-tech watch had buzzed indicating that the ball had crossed the line.
Arsenal was level.
The roar rose again, a sea of delirious of red shirts urging the tiring Gunners on. Bournemouth was wilting, they were wanting to play out time. It was time to shutter down and get back to the calming south with a point. They had twenty minutes to hang on to that point.
The attacks kept coming, but like all afternoon, Arsenal was unable to close it out. With all the 90 minutes gone and all the 6 of added time up, Arsenal was awarded a corner.
The corner was cleared out of the box, Nelson hovering just outside the box, controlled it, leaned away, and unleashed a shot, one which would probably change his life. The clean contact he managed sent the ball rocketing into the net. The net bulged and Bournemouth was deflated. It was heartbreaking for them. Arsenal had done it again, yet again.
The ignorance of youth, of not knowing a lost cause in the face of it had once again triumphed. Emirates had witnessed a heart-stopping comeback, and they had the unlikeliest hero. Nelson had in twenty-odd minutes walked from relative obscurity to Gunners folklore.
When destiny decides to have a ball, you are just get play along.
Today it was Nelson's turn to be pushed into playing a part in the drama that unfolded at Emirates.
The season is far from over, Manchester City is still chasing and capable of more. Arsenal will have to go out and do it again next week and then some more weeks. They will probably need to concede less, for a bigger rival would have shut them out if they did.
But then, all that can wait, it is this moment that matters. The day was about the joy of watching a young team playing out of their skins to gift a memorable evening to their fans.
Not many at the Emirates must have made it home sober.....
Cheers...
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Sudhir Bhattathiripad
Be A Sport