73 minutes Fine margins and all: just before the goal, Martinelli had that great opportunity to put Arsenal ahead.

Arsenal have been given a dose of their own medicine. This was a gem straight from the training pitch. A left-foot corner was curled low and hard towards the near post, where Kluivert nonchalantly tapped the ball into the space near the penalty spot. Christie arrived in the area late, opened his body and fired sideways into the net for the first time. Brilliant goal.

GOAL! Bournemouth 1-0 Arsenal (Christie 70)

69 min: Great save from Kepa! He had to make it too, as it was his terrible pass straight to Merino that led to the chance. He waited for Martinelli’s run before guiding the ball into his bMartinelli’s first shot was superbly saved to his left by Kepa.

68 minutes Ben White is booked for wasting time.

67 mins Apologies, I’ve lost my will over the last few minutes, during which time an Arsenal corner led to a header that was comfortably saved. It wasn’t a chance.

66 mins “I think the FA rule is that a red card should be given for refusing a foul obvious (not a clearly) goal scoring opportunity,” says Sam. “Evans’ scoring opportunity was not *obvious*. You should know how fast Ben White is compared to Evanlison, and the distance Evanilson and White have to cover before White can become an obstacle to Evanilson’s run at goal. You should also know how much Evanilson would be slowed down by controlling the ball on the way to the goal. White doesn’t have to worry about keeping the ball at the right distance, but Evanilson does.

‘There was nothing obvious about this scoring opportunity. That is why so few red cards are given when a foul is committed so close to the halfway line, unless I am very much mistaken.”

If there was nothing obvious about it, why did two senior referees and several ex-players all agree that this was an obvious/obvious opportunity? You can argue it was the wrong decision, but to say there was “nothing obvious” about it is patently absurd and oh, I don’t care anymore.

64 min: Arsenal substitution Gabriel Martinelli replaces Leandro Trossard.

63 min: Triple substitution for Bournemouth Dango Ouattara, Alex Scott and Marcus Tavernier are replaced by Justin Kluivert, Luis Sinisterra and Ryan Christie.

Antoine Semenyo received a yellow card just before that substitution.

62 mins It’s a statement of offensive obviousness, but you always have a chance with 10 men if you have an excellent defense. That was the case with Arsenal in the late 1990s, when the Back Four rolled up their sleeves even further when someone was sent off, and that applies to this Arsenal team as well. Overall I think they have managed the game very well since Saliba was sent off.

60 minutes Tavernier sends a speculative header over the goal and wide. Bournemouth is showing the first signs of impatience.

I’m telling you: 1-0 to Arsenal, 98th minute, Christopher Wreh.

59 mins “I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who recalled a similar broadcast for Gary Rowett? snorts Tom Hopkins. “Brian Deane withdraw midway in a Derby-Leeds cup match in 1996?

‘From my memory, there were some pretty harsh opinions expressed about the likelihood of Deane sprinting half the field in any conditions. I think VAR is too objective at the moment – ​​let’s liven it up by taking into account the ability of the player fouled to take advantage of the opportunity he is being denied.”

So even if Teddy Sheringham had a twenty yard start on the defender, wouldn’t this count as a clear goalscoring opportunity?

57 minutes A deep cross from the left is shot into a dangerous area by Raya, who is relieved when she sees that a lilac and light blue shirt gets to the ball first.

56 mins Havertz was a passenger for Manchester City in the second half, but he occasionally gave Arsenal an outball here.

51 minutes There is no Bukayo Saka who can tap the corner under the crossbar. Instead, Rice takes and Havertz goes to the near post. An eighth chance at best.

50 minutes Havertz does a great job winning a corner for Arsenal, beating Scott and then Kerkez on the right. Gabriel wanders forward with chaos on his mind…

48 mins “On American television, Tim Howard thought the red card might be justified because Raya was backing away and not getting to the ball,” said Adam Roberts.

Raya played absolutely no role. The only possible case for Arsenal is that because Evanilson still had so far to go, White could possibly have come back. But he was so far along that it feels like a bit of reach.

47 min: Semenyo misses a big chance! Kerkez’s back heel releases Ouattara on the left side. He looks up and picks out Semenyo, strangely unmarked at the far post. Semenyo pays close attention to the bounce and then steps over the crossbar from twelve meters. That is by far the best chance of the match. Perhaps, as Alan Smith on Sky suggests, he had too much time on his hands.

46 mins Bournemouth start the second half after switching Semenyo from left to right. Arsenal’s shape resembles 4-4-1, with Merino playing from the right and Trossard from the left.

Substitution at Bournemouth Adam Smith replaces Julian Araujo as right back.

“Can anyone explain why no one chose to mention this? that Evanilson was clearly offside, but no one thought to check this during the VAR review? writes Mark. “Commentators never even raised it as a possibility in the discussion, and officials clearly jumped to condemnation. Are offenses committed in an offside position now punishable? I probably missed that EPL rule change….”

You’re right: he was clearly in an offside position. And the pass was played by Leandro Trossard, so he wasn’t offside.

Part-time reading

Halftime: Bournemouth 0-0 Arsenal

45+4 mins “I thought it was a red live and I think the referee thought so too,” said Sean Orlowicz. “But he gave the yellow card because he knew he could check again. I’m okay with that approach. Ben White wasn’t close enough to prevent a one-on-one chance for Evanilson.”

I’m not sure, just because the threshold for VAR intervention is much higher this season, so he couldn’t be sure he would be told to go to the monitor. But yes, the more you see it, the harder it becomes to argue against the decision. White was too far to the other side and there was no one else who could have taken cover again.

45+2 mins Evanilson makes a good run down the left channel, away from Kiwior, who recovers well and concedes a corner. It is waved straight into the loving arms of David Raya.

45+1 min Four minutes of extra time. Partey volleyed over twenty meters, a difficult opportunity.

45 minutes There has been a lot of pressure at Bournemouth since the red card. This smacks of 1-0 to Arsenal, with the winning goal scored from a set-piece in the 97th minute, probably by Steve Bould.

44 minutes “You know what they say about red cards,” says Niall Mullen. “One is unfortunate, two is careless, but three is clearly a Premier League conspiracy.”

Arf. I keep thinking how ridiculously good Arsene Wenger’s early conditions could be with ten men. Anfield 2001, St James’ Park 1996, Upton Park 1998 and so on.

41 min: Good save from Raya! Semenyo rushes to the left, much too quickly for Kiwior, and delivers a low cross. It’s spilled by the outstretched Raya, but he bounces up to stop Tavernier’s pursuit with his outstretched right foot. Excellent rescue.

40 minutes Calafiori remained at left back, with Kiwior replacing Saliba in the middle. It resembles a 4-3-2 formation with Trossard supporting Havertz.

39 minutes You are the ref.

38 minutes “Bad overall,” says Charles Antaki. “Bad from Saliba, bad for Saliba, bad for this game, bad for the next game and, who knows, bad for Arsenal’s title chase. We were all wondering when this game would get interesting. Good…”

37 min: Arsenal substitution Jakub Kiwior comes on for Raheem Sterling. That likely means Calafiori will move to center half. We don’t know that yet, because Bournemouth have a series of corners.

36 minutes Bournemouth has come alive. Semenyo cuts in from the left, sells both White and Sterling a lovely dummy and heads out again. He then shoots a left-foot shot from a tight angle that Raya pushes around the near post.

35 min: Just next to Merino! Sterling’s cross is half cleared by the diving Senesi at the near post. Merino controls it deftly, from 15 meters away, and immediately shoots a shot that deflects just wide of Senesi. The referee gave a goal kick, but I’m pretty sure it was deflected.

35 minutes Saliba will now miss next Sunday’s Premier League match against Liverpool. Arsenal are not exactly short of centre-backs, but he is difficult to replace.