Ryan Christie scored from a Bournemouth corner in the 70th minute, before Justin Cluivert made it 2-0 from the penalty spot.
defensive focus
Lewis Cook saw a deep free-kick headed away by Riccardo Calafiori before David Raya gave the ball away to Alex Scott as we tried to play out from the back, only for Antoine Semenyo to fire over the bar as the hosts mounted the pressure early on.
We struggled to create any chances of note in the first 30 minutes as a Raheem Sterling cross evaded everyone and sailed wide of the post.
down to 10 men
Everything changed in the 28th minute when Leandro Trossard went to play the ball back to Raya. Evanilson looked set to intercept the pass and Saliba pulled him back, our centre-back initially shown a yellow card by the referee.
But VAR urged Rob Jones to have another look at the incident on a monitor and, after doing so, he changed Saliba’s punishment to a red card.
Gabriel got his body in front of an effort from Semenyo before we had a chance to take the lead when Sterling’s cross was hooked wide by Mikel Merino, who was making his first start for us.
Mikel Arteta brought Jakub Kiwior on in the 36th minute to tidy up the defence, with Sterling the player having to make way.
Raya keeping busy
Semenyo continued to look dangerous for Bournemouth but Raya was equal to his efforts, even spilling one of his crosses and getting up quickly to deny Marcus Tavernier on the rebound.
Thomas Partey volleyed the ball over the bar and we went into the break goalless after a lively first half.
second half struggle
Semenyo touched the ball over the bar from close range from Dango Ouattarra’s cross early in the second half, before Kai Havertz headed a Declan Rice corner over the bar at the other end.
A cross from Semenyo was then headed wide by Tavernier ahead of our second change of the match with Gabriel Martinelli coming on for Trossard.
Our substitute almost changed the game straight away when Kepa Arrizabalaga played the ball straight to Merino, who found Martinelli, but his shot was straight at the Bournemouth goalkeeper.
We were made to pay for the missed opportunity straight away, as a Bournemouth corner reached Christie, who cushioned it into the top left corner.
Semenyo smashed the ball high and wide after another Bournemouth corner fell to Marcos Senesi, and we then head a mountain to climb when a Kiwior pass was cut out by Evanilson, who won a penalty after attempting to take the ball around Raya. Kluivert tucked it into the bottom right for 2-0.
Gabriel Jesus and Ethan Nwaneri then came on for Kiwior and Merino with 10 minutes to go.
The former wriggled his way into the penalty area and went down late on, but the referee didn’t see enough to award a penalty.
what’s next
UEFA Champions League football returns to N5 as we host Shakhtar Donetsk for an 8pm kick-off on Tuesday. We’re then beack in Premier League action with the visit of Liverpool at Emirates Stadium at 4.30pm on Sunday.
