CHERRIES could not put a cat amongst the pigeons in the title race as they fell to a 3-0 defeat at Arsenal yesterday, but that did not quite tell the whole story.

The Gunners piled on the pressure before finally taking the lead just before half-time, after they were controversially awarded a penalty for a foul by Mark Travers on Kai Havertz.

Cherries’ performance improved after the restart, but they fell 2-0 behind with 20 minutes to go, via Leandro Trossard’s clinical finish.

Shortly afterwards, Cherries were denied a goal back when Antoine Semenyo found the net, Dominic Solanke penalised for a foul on goalkeeper David Raya after a lengthy VAR check.

Declan Rice then sealed the win in stoppage time.

Bournemouth Echo:

VAR controversy

A lot of the talk from the game will revolve around refereeing decisions.

The first big call came in the first half, Arsenal unhappy Ryan Christie escaped without a card for his challenge on Bukayo Saka.

The winger was left requiring treatment for the cut to his leg, but Christie went unpunished.

It was then Cherries who were left rueing decisions from referee David Coote and VAR Peter Bankes.

With half-time approaching, Travers came out to close down Havertz, but the German was given a spot-kick, his trailing leg clipping the goalkeeper before he went to ground.

Perhaps the most egregious of the officiating came shortly after falling 2-0 down. A ball into the box was sent high into the air by Takehiro Tomiyasu and towards goalkeeper Raya. He elected to punch, as he was bumped by Solanke.

Philip Billing and Gabriel also fell to the floor nearby after a tussle, with the loose ball coming out to Ryan Christie. He fired against the crossbar, with Semenyo turning in on the rebound.

Coote instantly gave a foul. A long check followed, before it was decided to stick with the on-field calls.

All of the above has understandably led to plenty of debate from both sets of fans, Mikel Arteta opting not to discuss the decisions in detail, while Iraola was particularly unhappy with the call to disallow the Semenyo goal. He felt his side should have been awarded a penalty for a foul on Billing.

Bournemouth Echo:

Arsenal’s strong start

Aside from the first few seconds, where Cherries won a free-kick in a dangerous position, Arsenal dominated the early stages.

The visitors managed just 20 per cent of the ball for the opening 25 minutes or so, with the Gunners camped in Cherries territory.

Pressure mounted on the penalty area, with shots raining in on Travers’s goal. The Irishman was equal to them all, while Cherries’ defence also stood firm with a string of big blocks.

But the away side could just not find a way to get out of their own defensive third. There appeared to be some confusion or a breakdown tactically, particularly from restarts.

Travers would take all his goal-kicks short, but most of Cherries’ players were too high up the pitch to effectively play their way up through Arsenal.

Iraola was growing increasingly frustrated on the sidelines, seemingly indicating to use Lewis Cook more to try and link the play.

But, in the second half, things dramatically improved.

Cherries were beginning to create some opportunities, with Arsenal starting to manage the clock around the hour mark to try and regain some control.

The second goal, combined with Semenyo’s disallowed effort, gave them exactly that. But Cherries will be a lot happier with their second-half display, registering six shots to just one in the first period and actually having more of the ball than their opposition.

Bournemouth Echo:

Key battles on the wings

With Lloyd Kelly and Milos Kerkez both ruled out, Dango Ouattara again filled in at left-back. His battle with one of the best wingers in the league in Saka was always likely to be something Arsenal targeted.

And so it seemed, with many of their early attacks coming down Cherries’ left flank, Ouattara often left isolated and struggling to deal with Saka, who drifted both inside and outside of the Burkina Faso international.

Justin Kluivert has been more used to playing centrally this season, so him being back out on the wing ahead of Ouattara probably did not help that cause.

But it should be said that issue did become less telling in the second period.

Meanwhile, Cherries’ best attacking outlet appeared to be via Semenyo, who was in direct competition with Tomiyasu.

Less than a week after being stretchered off with his season seemingly over, the 24-year-old made a miraculous recovery from his knee problem, some supportive tape helping him get through the entirety of the contest.

Semenyo’s tussle with Tomiyasu was far less one-sided than the early Saka v Ouattara match-up, the Japanese provided a good, physical test for Semenyo.

On the other side, apart from once in the box where Kluivert showed good feet, Poole-born Ben White marshalled him well.

Bournemouth Echo:

Gap has closed

One of the big things Iraola was hoping to see from the contest was that Cherries had closed the gap to Arsenal compared with the 4-0 defeat when the two met at Vitality Stadium in September.

Iraola feels that day represented Cherries’ most resounding loss of the campaign, as the hosts failed to lay a glove on Mikel Arteta’s men.

While ultimately it is hard to argue against Arsenal deserving to win yesterday, the margin of the score-line was not an accurate reflection of everything that played out on the pitch.

In terms of stats, Cherries had 45 per cent possession at the Emirates, compared with 42 per cent at Vitality.

The shot count was tighter between the two clubs in the first meeting, although Cherries recorded one more (8) this weekend than back in September, as well as two on target compared to one. That, of course, does not include the goal they also had disallowed.

Away from stats, the eye test and feel of the game demonstrated Cherries have developed as a side. It was not looking like that would be the case during the first half, with Arsenal dominant, but Cherries side their true side in the second period.

What stood out for you at the Emirates? Let us know in the comments below?