Sports Blog 03/01/2017: Premier League Preview – Bournemouth vs Arsenal, Tuesday 3rd January 2017

Can Arsenal leapfrog into 3rd with a win against Bournemouth, at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 1?

Following their mid-December wobble, which saw back-to-back away losses against Everton and Manchester City, the Gunners seem to have re-found their form over the holiday schedule, a period that has been more forgiving to the London club than it has to some of its peers. This mini-comeback kicked off on Boxing Day, with a late goal from Olivier Giroud giving Arsenal a 1-0 victory over Tony Pulis’ tough West Brom. The Frenchman then led the charge on New Year’s Day against Crystal Palace, his exquisite scorpion kick followed by a second half strike from Alex Iwobi.



Giroud has benefited from the absence of the injured Theo Walcott, and will be looking to make it 3 in 3 when Arsenal travel to the south coast on Tuesday; he heads into the game at a Super Mega PGM of 42-49. The club’s top scorer, the seemingly indefatigable Alexis Sanchez, is then at 35-41, while the little-used Lucas is at 25-30.

As for Bournemouth, who are without the ineligible Jack Wilshere, they will be happy with their top 10 performance despite the fact they are yet to win 2 league games in a row this season. December ended up being a decidedly mixed month for the Cherries; impressive wins over Liverpool, Leicester and Swansea were joined by losses to Burnley, Southampton and Chelsea, with 3 goals conceded in each.

That leaves Bournemouth in 9th place on equal points as Southampton, meaning a win against Arsenal would help put some distance between them and their New Forest rivals. If they are to get a result on Tuesday, then their forwards need to compensate for a leaky backline – Callum Wilson, on 5 goals, has a Super Mega PGM of 21-26, while Benik Afobe is at 17-21 and Joshua King is at 12-16.

When these 2 sides met earlier in the season it was a relatively untroubled win for the Gunners, though it was a feisty fixture with 8 yellow cards. It looks to be a similar result this time around, with Spreadex offering an Arsenal/Bournemouth Goal Supremacy spread of 0.7-0.9 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.85-3.05 and a Bookings spread of 34-38.