Arsenal will look to extend their nine-point lead atop the Premier League before Manchester City kick off tomorrow, as they host Bournemouth in a crunch match. You can follow it all right here with ESPN’s live blog (which will appear right after the short preview text below this).
Man City put down a statement of intent before (and right after) the international break with a dominant win over Arsenal in the EFL Cup final (and then an even more dominant thumping of Liverpool in the FA Cup) and that was compounded by Southampton stunning the Gunners in the FA Cup last weekend. A midweek 1-0 win at Sporting CP, though, ought to have given Arsenal a boost as they prepare for the crucial Premier League run-in. City aren’t quite breathing down their neck — but any slip up and momentum could swing the title race heavily.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth are in the middle of a stubborn run that has seen them draw five of their previous Prem games — but the upshot is that they haven’t been beaten since the start of January, that’s a run of 11 league games unbeaten (4 wins in there)… but their last loss came at home against today’s opposition. A Declan Rice brace and a typical Gabriel Magalhaes header saw Arsenal trump Evanilson’s and Eli Kroupi’s goals as the Gunners won 3-2 in a thriller that went down to the wire.
With Andoni Iraola’s determination to take the game to opponents regardless of pedigree, and Mikel Arteta’s natural defensive tendencies heightened by the pressure of the title race… this could be a cracker. Who will triumph? We’ll find out soon enough.