Arsenal beat Bournemouth to keep pressure on Man City in Premier League title race

Arsenal kept up the pressure on Manchester City in the Premier League title race after powering past Bournemouth 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

In an impressive performance from Mikel Arteta's table-toppers, Arsenal came out on top thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Declan Rice that extended their lead at the top of the table to four points.

But second-placed City, who have two games in hand, will get the chance to reduce the points deficit to a single point if they defeat Wolves at the Etihad Stadium later in the day.

As it stands, though, a thoroughly deserved three points for the Gunners means double-hunting City must continue to play catch-up at the top.

“I think this year I can sense we’re embracing it,” said England midfielder Rice of the title pressure. “Man City are a machine, we can only focus on us. We’ve had an unbelievable 2024, the record is out of this world. Anything can happen in football.”

The only concern for Arsenal at the break against Bournemouth was that they might be made to pay for finding the back of the net only once as their opponents struggled to get out of their own half.

Cherries goalkeeper Mark Travers was kept busy saving efforts from the likes of Saka, Thomas Partey, William Saliba and Kai Havertz but after 15 attempts on goal, the score remained goalless.

But just before the half-time whistle, there was relief for the North London side when Havertz surged into the Bournemouth box past the despairing challenge by Travers and the German made sure his back leg touched the keeper before going down.