EPL: Ten-man Arsenal suffers 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth

Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the season came to a surprising end as they were defeated 2-0 by Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.

The turning point came when defender William Saliba was sent off for a professional foul on Evanilson, following a VAR review that upgraded his initial yellow card to red.

Mikel Arteta’s team, who had gone 10 matches without a loss across all competitions, struggled to cope with the numerical disadvantage.

Bournemouth capitalized late in the game, with Ryan Christie breaking the deadlock before Justin Kluivert sealed the win with a penalty.

The result is a setback for Arsenal, who could have gone top of the table with a win.

Instead, they now face the challenge of playing Liverpool next weekend without the suspended Saliba. If Liverpool wins against Chelsea on Sunday, Arsenal will be four points behind the league leaders by the time of their showdown.

Arsenal were well below their best in an unusually lethargic display, underlining the importance of injured forward Bukayo Saka, who was absent after coming off during England’s defeat against Greece last weekend.

They will look to bounce back against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday.

A 1-1 draw at the Vitality Stadium in December 2019 was Arteta’s first game in charge of Arsenal.

The Gunners have come a long way since then, transformed into perennial title contenders by the Spaniard.