We have already seen plenty of fascinating developments in the Premier League, and this weekend, we are hoping for more, particularly at the Vitality Stadium, where Bournemouth hosts Arsenal. While it would be madness to make any predictions about the EPL after a 4-0 defeat against favourites Manchester City last week (given the gap in class between City and the rest of the league), Bournemouth is going to play on fire throughout the season if they cannot get a bit of game control. In their second match, they were up against the best side in the league, Manchester City, so a loss would not be as harmful to the side. Since Bournemouth was promoted to the Premier League in mid-2015, Bournemouth had lost all eight meetings with City, scoring a total of four goals during this period while being held goalless in half those games.
Arsenal won the opening two matches, one of only two teams to do so in the current campaign; Manchester City is the other. Arsenal started the season looking exciting following an excellent pre-season, as well as two significant wins against Crystal Palace and Leicester in the Premier League. Arsenal won both the games, starting with a clean sheet in the first game against Crystal Palace (2-0) and a six-goal entertaining match at the second weekend against Leicester City FC (4-2). Gabriel Jesus opened his PL scoring account with Arsenal in the second outing and was there to entertain the Emirates as he scored twice in the first 35 minutes to give Arsenal an early half lead.
Leicester showed the fighting spirit from the start of the second half as they were trailing by two goals. Through constant pressure and an attacking mindset, Leicester was able to create an opportunity for them. Through that, William Saliba, the young defender, turned villain and scored in his own goal where he was trying to head the ball out of play but could get the connection right and ended up putting the ball in his own net. But soon, the goal was cancelled out as Xhaka scored and gained the two-goal lead. In the later stages of the game, there were two quick goals by both teams as Maddison scored in the 74th minute, Gabriel Martinelli gave back the answer in the 75th minute, and the game stayed 4-2 till the end of the time.
Zinchenko fit in nicely; it was a toss-up between Granit Xhaka and Oleksandr Zinchenko for this position. The two have developed an impressive relationship, and the team’s left side is now more elegant than ever. Zinchenko and Xhaka switch off in the middle of the field when the nominal left-back demonstrates his technical skill and passing brilliance.
