Arsenal player ratings vs Bournemouth: Quartet endure nightmare as 10-man Gunners stunned

Ryan Christie fired Bournemouth ahead against Arsenal (Image: Getty)

Ten-man Arsenal were undone at their own game as Bournemouth's set-piece creativity inflicted the Gunners' first Premier League defeat of the season. William Saliba's first-half red card left Mikel Arteta's side with plenty of work to do before Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert sealed a memorable victory for the Cherries.

Saliba was initially given a yellow card after bringing down Evanilson in the 27th minute. However, VAR believed the Frenchman was the last man and his punishment was upgraded to a sending-off, with the centre-back now set to miss next week's crunch clash with Liverpool.

Arsenal provided little threat without the likes of Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard. While it is usually the north Londoners who are kings from dead-ball situations, a clever corner was their undoing as Christie thumped home the opener 70th minute.

Kluivert sealed a big victory for Bournemouth nine minutes later, converting a penalty after David Raya brought down Evanilson. Here is how Express Sport rated Arsenal's players.

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David Raya - 4

Some better decision-making and Raya might have saved Saliba from a red card. He initially seemed set on racing out of his goal, before backtracking. Had the goalkeeper made an attempt to meet the ball, the goal-scoring opportunity for Evanilson might not have been as clear.

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Raya had little chance of saving Christie’s fantastic strike but then conceded the late penalty from which Justin Kluivert scored Bournemouth’s second.

Ben White - 5

White might argue he was covering as Saliba hauled down Evanilson. But the right-back otherwise struggled to get into the game.

William Saliba - 4

It was perhaps a red card that falls on the harsher side given the distance to goal and the fact that White might have reached the ball before Evanilson. But it was an untypically insecure piece of defending from Saliba that gave referee Rob Jones and VAR official Jarred Gillett with a decision to make. The red card left his team-mates with a difficult task down to 10 men.

Gabriel - 5

Gabriel looked unsure after Saliba’s red card and was not helped by the underperformance of new partner Jakub Kiwior. The Arsenal stand-in captain is used to being on the end of clever set-plays but was unable to prevent Bournemouth’s own ingenuity.

Riccardo Calafiori - 5

Bournemouth were excellent at nullifying the threat of Arsenal’s inverting full-backs. Calafiori was unable to have an impact and was forced to play a more regimented left-back role after the red card.

William Saliba was sent off for Arsenal in their 2-0 defeat by Bournemouth (Image: Getty)

Thomas Partey - 5

Bournemouth found it too easy to bypass Partey in midfield. Lewis Cook and Alex Scott had particularly excellent games.

Declan Rice - 6

Rice tried to take the game to Bournemouth with a couple of driving runs. However, his efforts to get further up the pitch were limited by Arsenal’s numerical disadvantage.

Mikel Merino - 5

Arsenal’s midfield were flat and lacked creativity. The onus was largely on Merino to join the attack and the Spaniard had the Gunners’ best chance in the first half. He played a much deeper role after Arsenal went down to 10 men.

Declan Rice was among Arsenal's better performers against Bournemouth (Image: Getty) SUBSCRIBE Invalid email

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Raheem Sterling - 5

Sterling struggled to get into the game in only his second Premier League start for Arsenal. The on-loan winger was sacrificed following Saliba’s red card as Arteta opted to put Kiwior at the heart of his defence.

Kai Havertz - 6

Havertz battled and harried but to no avail. He was left isolated for large parts of the game and while there was some good hold-up play, the German had little support.

Leandro Trossard - 4

It was Trossard’s wayward back-pass that placed Saliba in trouble, with Evanilson clearly the favourite to win the race to the ball. The Belgian was taken off just after the hour having struggled to get into the game.

Leandro Trossard's wayward back-pass led to William Saliba hauling down Evanilson (Image: Getty)Substitutes

Jakub Kiwior (for Sterling, ‘30) - 4

There are fewer bigger humiliations than a substitute being taken off. But that was the fate suffered by Kiwior after his awful back-pass led to Bournemouth’s penalty.

Gabriel Martinelli (for Trossard, ‘63) - 5

Martinelli’s introduction prompted more intensity from Arsenal but the Brazilian spurned Arsenal’s best second-half chance. Capitalising on Kepa Arrizabalaga’s error, the wide man made it too obvious which way he was shooting and the Bournemouth goalkeeper made amends with a fine save.

Ethan Nwaneri (for Kiwior, ‘80) - NA

Gabriel Jesus (for Merino, ‘80) - NA

Arsenal player ratings vs Bournemouth: Quartet endure nightmare as 10-man Gunners stunned

Arsenal player ratings vs Bournemouth: Quartet endure nightmare as 10-man Gunners stunned

Arsenal player ratings vs Bournemouth: Quartet endure nightmare as 10-man Gunners stunned

Arsenal player ratings vs Bournemouth: Quartet endure nightmare as 10-man Gunners stunned

Arsenal player ratings vs Bournemouth: Quartet endure nightmare as 10-man Gunners stunned