Goals from Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott gave Bournemouth a 2-1 victory at Emirates Stadium for a second season running.
Teenager Kroupi opened the scoring for the Cherries with a back-post finish before Viktor Gyokeres slammed home his penalty to take his tally to 18 goals in his debut campaign.
But Bournemouth found the winner with 15 minutes remaining as Scott’s composed finish from close range inflicted our second home loss of the season.
Bournemouth came into this one on the back of a 22-day break since their last match, a 2-2 draw with Manchester United, and started the better, but rarely troubled our defence in the opening exchanges.
We looked to use the channels to open the game up, with Noni Madueke slipping Gyokeres in down the right, but the Swede wasn’t able to find the onrushing Gabriel Martinelli inside the six-yard box.
It was the Cherries who made their dominance count after 16 minutes. Ryan Christie produced a fine through ball to Adrien Truffert, who’s deflected cross was volleyed home at the back post by Kroupi.
We almost responded three minutes later as Kai Havertz went close, meeting Declan Rice’s tantalising corner but could only head over the bar.
Kroupi continued to look dangerous, but only a brilliant block by Gabriel denied the Frenchman a second on the day.
Set pieces were causing problems for our visitors, and it saw us come back into the contest. Declan Rice’s shot was deflected for a corner and from the set piece, Gabriel’s shot hit Christie’s arm, causing Michael Oliver to point to the spot.
Gyokeres picked up the ball and slammed home to maintain his 100% record from the spot in Arsenal colours and level the contest.
Arsenal.com