Mikel Arteta said Arsenal’s first-half performance in their 3-0 win over Bournemouth was the “best half” of football his side have played all season.
Bukayo Saka’s penalty after a dubious decision from referee David Coote to initially award the penalty put the Gunners ahead in what was a one-sided first half. Leandro Trossard then swept home their second following a spell of Bournemouth pressure after the interval.
The away side then had a goal controversially ruled out when VAR backed Coote’s on-field decision to penalise Dominic Solanke for a soft foul on David Raya before Antoine Semenyo converted into an open net.
Declan Rice then added a stoppage-time third to put the result beyond doubt.
Despite what the scoreline would suggest, Arsenal were made to work by Bournemouth in the second half but the game really should have been wrapped up in the first period.
The Gunners registered 16 shots and had 68% possession in a one-sided first half that brought just one goal.
Arteta was pleased with the overall performance as Arsenal opened up a four point gap over Manchester City and said his side’s first half-showing was the best he’s seen all season.
He said: “I thought it was probably the best first half we have played all season. We were unbelievable, everything flowing, super composed on the ball, really aggressive without the ball.
“We generated so many chances, we could have gone three, four, five [up] easily and we didn’t. We scored one.
“Credit to Bournemouth, they changed a few things and created some issues. The game became a little bit more open, something we wanted to avoid.
“Within that game, we resolved certain situations in the right way and we were very efficient in front of goal to score the goals and maintain another clean sheet.”
On Bournemouth’s disallowed goal and the late Ryan Christie tackle on Bukayo Saka in the first half which went unpunished: “The honest answer is I haven’t seen any of the incidents because I knew you were going to ask me.
“I did it on purpose. The analysts said do you want to watch it and I said no because then I can tell the truth!
“I haven’t seen them so I cannot comment or have an impression. The one on David [Raya], the foul [for the disallowed goal], I cannot see because it’s too far. The one on Bukayo, is it on purpose or not? I don’t know so difficult for me to judge.”
