THE BOURNEMOUTH ULTIMATUM
ANOTHER STOP ON REDEMPTION ROAD AWAITS ON SOUTH COAST
Happy New Year, Legion! Auld Lang Syne and all that jazz.
Full disclosure. Here at Arsenal Legion, we're not huge fans of New Year. Once Christmas is over, that's kind of it for us. For all of you who did celebrate, I hope you had a good one.
SETTING THE STAGE
It may be a New Year, but we have the same mission.
There's nothing quite like a crisp, cold, January night away game to test a team's title credentials. It could be worse, I suppose; we could be playing up north somewhere. Still, let's be real, a trip to take on Bournemouth at The Vitality is never just a day (or night) at the beach.
Make no mistake, despite Iraola's side going through somewhat of a blip, they are extremely dangerous opponents.
We ended 2025 with a statement victory. We need to open 2026 the same way.
It's yet another game on the Redemption Tour, as last season we failed to win, falling to a 2-1 defeat after a ridiculous red card, this time for William Saliba.
FORM BOOK (LEAGUE ONLY)
After Villa, our last five league games now read four wins and one loss, and with Villa's pummeling a few days ago, that one loss has now been avenged.
Bournemouth are an extremely hard side to get a read on.
In their last five, they have only lost one but are winless, drawing the other four. They are turning into us from last year with way too many draws.
Their last victory came way back on the 26th October, a 2-0 home victory vs Forest. Since then, their record is zero wins, five draws, and five defeats. Their losses include a 4-1 battering at Brentford, but they have scored four at Old Trafford in a 4-4 tie and drew 2-2 at The Bridge last time out.
Like I said, hard to get a read on.
HISTORY BOOKS
Since the Premier League's inception, Bournemouth have had two different stints, suffering relegation under Eddie Howe on the final day by a point in season 19/20. They returned for the 22/23 season under Scott Parker, but he only lasted four games, and after a 9-0 defeat to Liverpool, he was replaced by Gary O'Neill. He stayed a couple of seasons, keeping them up, before the board ultimately wanted more and replaced him with the current manager, Andoni Iraola.
Over their two different spells, we have dominated the fixture with eleven wins, two draws and only three defeats. Our record at the Vitality is, ahem, a healthy one, with four wins, two draws and two defeats.
Of our three total defeats, two came last season as they did the double over us, winning 2-0 on their patch and 2-1 at The Carpet, so revenge is fresh on our minds. Before that, our last defeat came in season 17/18, when Hector Bellerin scored our goal.
TRANSFER BUSINESS
Like the Brightons of this world, Bournemouth have to be super savvy in the transfer market to survive. By their standards and clubs like them, they splashed the cash in the summer big time, backing their manager to the absolute hilt.
This, of course, was made possible because they had players who signed for very little, exit for massive amounts and huge profit.
I could give you the rundown on the strengths and weaknesses of their new signings, but I figured, do any of you care? Probably not.
They started the incoming with their second most expensive signing ever in centre back Bafode Diakite from Lille for £35m. Both north-east clubs, Sunderland and Newcastle, were after his services, as were Forest, but he chose the south coast.
With Kepa's Chelsea loan ending (we know all too well), they needed to address their goalkeeping, and returned to Stamford Bridge for Petrovic, the Serbian international, who arrived for £25m.
Scottish winger Ben Gannon-Doak (who used to be plain Ben Doak) arrived from Liverpool for £25m. Another winger in Leverkusen's Amine Adli also signed for £25m.
Veljko Milosavljević, a Serbian wonderkid centre back, arrived for £15m from Red Star Belgrade or Crvena Zvezda, depending on how you like your team names pronounced. He had been eased into the lineup slowly, but after starting four of the last eight, he is now injured.
Arguably, their best signing has been Kerkez's replacement at left back, Frenchman Adrien Truffert, another arrival from Ligue Ugh, this time from Stade Rennais for £14.5m. He has started every league game so far and has been an excellent low-cost addition.
So roughly £124m spent in the summer, which is a massive amount for a club of Bournemouth's stature (without wanting to sound disrespectful)
How is this possible? Well, they actually made a NET profit of £20m, due to sales like ....
Centre back Zabarnyi was sold to PSG for £55m. Having signed only two years prior for Dynamo Kiev for £25m, that's a £30m profit in two years.
Another centre back, Huijsen, was one of the most profitable pieces in their history. Signed from Juventus for only £13m, Real Madrid activated his £50m release clause after only ONE YEAR, a profit of £37m in twelve months.
Left back Kerkez, signed from AZ Alkmaar for £18m, was sold to Liverpool for £40m—a profit of £32m in two years.
The list goes on and on.
Winger/wing back Ouattara, signed from Lorient for £20m, was sold to Brentford for £42m—a profit of £22m in two years.
They even managed to get £8m- £10m for winger Jaidon/Jaydon Anthony, such is their Midas Touch.
Further 'deadwood' got shifted from the wage bill with names like Billing, Sinisterra, Mepham, Rothwell and Neto either sold, loaned or left for free.
I always think clubs that operate in this way, like Bournemouth, like Brighton, are such a high-risk strategy. Yes, you can make huge sums from player sales if done correctly, but it only works when the replacements you find are of similar talent levels.
I tend to think you can't keep constantly unearthing diamonds. At some point, either your luck or scouting eye for talent will run out, and that's when relegation problems tend to loom large.
Really, though, what other choice do they have? They don't get the match-day revenues clubs like ours generate. They don't have the worldwide appeal, marketing, and subsequent sponsorships we get, which is why they never operate at the high end of the transfer market.
I 100% get why they have to use that model, and I admire clubs that consistently survive and even improve by being savvy in their use of it.
KEY MATCHUP
I fancy Martin Odegaard to have a significant influence on the game.
Bournemouth, without the injured Tyler Adams and other possible injuries in that area (we'll get to that in our Availability segment), could be exposed.
Our captain is hitting a rich vein of form, and if given the time and room, could have a field day.
ONE TO WATCH
It's a pretty obvious one, really, and that's winger Antoine Semenyo. A supposed Arsenal fan who can't wait till the summer to join us is going to Man City in January (apparently). He will be looking to end his Bournemouth career on a high, and what better way to endear himself to his would-be new employers than by throwing a spanner into our title charge?
AVAILABILITY REPORT
The big question mark remains over Declan Rice. Judging by his post-match on-field chat with Morgan Rogers, where he told him his knee was 'fucked' and making swollen gestures with his hands, I'm saying he doesn't make it.
Arteta also confirmed that Mosquera and Calafiori are still out. We were doing so well with our injury-prone Italian, and, without wanting to sound too harsh, he has gone MIA again at a crucial point in the season.
For them, the previously mentioned Tyler Adams is a massive miss, with new signings Gannon-Doak and Milosavljevic joining him on the sidelines, injured. Midfielders Christie and Cook are late calls, so expect them both to play as is our luck.
PROJECTED ELEVEN
Mikel has some massive calls to make with his selection, and I have chosen my guess at his starting eleven below ...
This lineup is tricky because we know full well we have Liverpool five days later, but Bournemouth away isn't the kind of fixture you can breeze through while making 6 or 7 changes.
With that in mind, I have kept the nucleus of the side from Villa intact. I think Mikel will be telling these players, "Look, get through this one and Liverpool, then you can have six days off while the bench takes care of Portsmouth in the FA Cup before the first leg of the Chelsea Carabao semi comes around"
I have White coming back at just the right time to give Timber a much-needed rest. Yes, I think Timber is the better player, but the drop-off between him and White isn't Grand Canyon-sized. White would start for 90% of teams in the league.
I have Merino still deputising for Rice because Arteta loves him, and I think he's very underrated.
The only other change I made is to have Gabi J start ahead of Gyokeres up front. I could write a separate blog post on why, but for now, the short version is that Gabi J deserves a start, and Viktor doesn't.
My only other decision was to bring MLS in at left back and give Hincapie a breather, but I didn't want to change both full-backs, and Hincapie got a rest in the Palace quarter-final.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Ultimately, tomorrow’s trip to the Vitality Stadium is about maintaining the standards set in the second half of the win over Villa.
While the likely absence of Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori again tests the squad's depth, we have a chance after Man City's welcome slip away to Sunderland last night, to move SEVEN POINTS CLEAR before they play again, Sunday vs Chelsea.
We have to avoid dropping points in these kinds of games where the opposition hasn't won in ten but will turn us over in a heartbeat if we aren't at it from the get-go.
To be all about the clichés, let's not slip on the banana skin or 'trap game' as our friends over the Atlantic like to call it.
Focus plus application, and the points will be ours. Should be a good one, COYG!!