Key events
Teams in brief: Arsenal unchanged
Mikel Arteta sticks with the XI that won the first half of the north London derby, so Trossard starts and Martinelli is on the bench.
Preamble
Morning everyone and welcome to the first Premier League game of the day. It’s not the Championship finale, obviously, but it’s still pretty appetising. Arsenal are top of the league, even if they are nobody’s favourites to win it. With 80 points in the bag, they already have two more than they needed to seal the title in 1997-98. They have scored the most goals in the Premier League and conceded the fewest. And yet they still have a wobble in them, as they showed in that week when they lost to both Villa and Bayern.
Bournemouth are tenth, which represents a spectacular transformation. On 26 October they were 19th; since the beginning of December they’ve been fifth; since the beginning of March, third. Their manager, Andoni Iraola, has been this season’s Unai Emery. Both of them, like Mikel Arteta, come from the Basque Country, now the most fertile soil in the world for growing football managers.
In the reverse fixture Bournemouth lost 4-0 and became the first of many clubs to be routed by this new, ruthless Arsenal. But that was more than seven months ago. Bournemouth are a very different beast now. With their tireless pressing and rapid counters, they could have been designed to play away from home. Arsenal should still win the game, but may not find it easy. It could be a cracker.
Kick-off is at 12.30pm local time and I’ll be back soon with the teams.
