RYAN Christie admitted Cherries would need time to “grieve” after their heartbreaking loss to Arsenal, adding how the feeling after the final whistle was “in a way even worse” than the 9-0 embarrassment at Liverpool.

Cherries have suffered a string of setbacks so far this campaign, and now sit bottom of the Premier League table with 13 games to try and avoid relegation.

Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Emirates Stadium was the third time Cherries have lost having led by two goals this campaign, also beaten by Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United.

That adds to the humbling they received at Anfield in August, in a record-equalling heaviest defeat in Premier League history.

Cherries threatened a shock win in north London at the weekend against the league leaders with Philip Billing and Marcos Senesi putting them 2-0 ahead.

Three goals in the final half an hour, including one in the final seconds from Reiss Nelson, saw the Gunners snatch victory and leave Cherries devastated.

Reflecting on the defeat, Christie, who was introduced off the bench with the game level at 2-2, told the Daily Echo: “It is just gutting, to be fair.

“Because I think the boys were superb from the first minute to the last.

“All credit to the boys - not many teams can come here and have a 2-0 lead.

“They are such a good team that they are going to create chances.

“I think we actually limited them throughout the 90 minutes to very few. It was an incredible finish, to be fair, in the last minute - or the last second I should say. It is pretty sickening.”

Asked what the message was from boss Gary O’Neil after the game, Christie added: “He is obviously as gutted as we are.

“I think his message was to try as much as we can to keep our heads up.

“You probably take tonight (Saturday) and then Sunday and Monday to almost grieve a bit after a loss like this.

“But you need to get going again. Not many teams this season have come here and put on a performance like that and taken Arsenal to genuinely the last kick of the ball.

“Again, plenty of positives to take from it. Obviously hard to see them right now.”

Christie, in his first season in the Premier League having arrived from Celtic in August 2021, started the infamous 9-0 loss at Liverpool, before being hooked at half-time with Cherries having already conceded five.

Asked to sum up the contrast in emotions between that defeat and the last-gasp loss to the Gunners, the Scotland international said: “It is tough. Liverpool was a bad day for all of us.

“That was more of an embarrassing feeling to be honest, speaking for myself, personally.

“We managed to bounce back from that superbly well.

“Saturday, in a way it is even worse because I think we deserved something from the game.

“You take it to the absolute death of a game and somebody puts it in the top corner against you. That is the way football works sometimes.

“We can’t put it to bed straight away. It takes a couple of days to get over something like that.

“We have another massive game against another great team (Liverpool) next week. Games like that will give us confidence.”