(Football news) Last weekend, the Gunners defeated Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 in an exciting North London derby, holding off a second-half comeback. Meanwhile, the Cherries shut out Brighton & Hove Albion three times without getting a response.

Embarrassing memories of their surrenders a year ago crossed the thoughts of Arsenal supporters last Sunday when their fierce rivals stormed back after they had appeared invincible 3-0 against Tottenham thanks to goals from Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Due to errors by David Raya and Declan Rice, Cristian Romero and Son Heung-min threatened to mount a formidable comeback. However, in the end, the Lilywhites were unable to salvage anything from the intense derby, as Arsenal narrowly avoided defeat in that five-goal classic. 

Thanks to their latest victory in a game that Saka admitted his side may not have won last year, Arsenal have retained their vulnerable one-point advantage over Manchester City in first place, but owing to the champions’ game in hand, perfection may still not be enough to end their 20-year title drought.

With Liverpool more or less out of the race, though, it is a nerve-jangling straight shootout for glory between Mikel Arteta and his erstwhile employers, who do not play again until Saturday evening and will therefore fall further behind the Gunners if the Emirates giants make it four top-flight wins on the bounce this weekend.

Six of Arsenal’s seven Premier League home matches in 2024 so far have ended in triumph, the outlier being April’s alarming 2-0 loss to Aston Villa, and on the back of being on the right end of a 3-2 scoreline versus Tottenham, it is only appropriate that Arsenal reunite with Bournemouth after last year’s Emirates extravaganza.

Safely marooned in mid-table as the campaign enters its dying embers, Bournemouth followed up their 1-0 beating of Wolves with an emphatic South Coast success against Brighton, where one of Andoni Iraola’s attacking marksmen stole the show.

It was a quiet afternoon for Dominic Solanke at the Vitality Stadium, but Enes Unal shouldered the attacking burden – setting up Marcos Senesi’s opener before heading home himself – and the 3-0 win was rubber-stamped when Justin Kluivert finished off a sweeping counter-attack right at the end.

Leaving the relegation dogfight well and truly behind, Iraola’s men are smack-bang in the middle of the standings in 10th spot on account of gleaning 48 points – their highest-ever Premier League total – and European qualification remains a mathematical possibility with just three games left to go.

The difference between Bournemouth and Newcastle United, who are in seventh and sixth place respectively, is five and six points, despite the fact that Bournemouth has played more games than both teams. They have two challenging away days left before finishing the season, traveling to Chelsea and Brentford on May 11.

The efforts of Iraola and his coaching staff will be appreciated in any case, but Bournemouth lost to Arsenal 4-0 at home in September and blew a 2-0 lead in this match in March of last year, when Reiss Nelson’s winning goal in the 97th minute caused some of the most exuberant celebrations the Emirates has ever seen.

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