Another coming of age experience for young Gunners
OUTPOURING: Arsenal's Reiss Nelson (C) celebrates after scoring his team third goal of the game against Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium. Pic: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images
The celebration police were busy in the red half of north London over the weekend as success-starved Arsenal fans and players were given the freedom of Islington by manager Mikel Arteta to enjoy a special moment in the season.
This fourth, dramatic comeback win since the December World Cup led to an outpouring of emotion that topped the scenes after West Ham and Manchester United were despatched and even outdid the delirium at Villa Park in the injury-time victory just two weeks ago. Arteta said it was the greatest drama and noise he had experienced at the Arsenal stadium as both a player and boss.
On Monday morning, however, it was back to business, back to the training ground for recovery, further assessment to knocks and strains. No full, strenuous training, though – just the start of preparations for a midweek flight to Lisbon and the relative light relief of the Europa League.
And one thing Arteta can now be assured of is that the youngest team and squad in the Premier League is rapidly coming of age, perhaps even ready to take the title challenge to Manchester City right to the end of the season in May.
That was eloquently explained by Thomas Partey, who marked his return from injury by scoring Arsenal's first reply to Philip Billing's nine-second opener and Marcos Senesi's 57th-minute Bournemouth header to go two up.
The Ghana international, a La Liga winner with Atletico Madrid, said: “Well, I think now they are not younger players anymore. They have experience. They have been playing for a long time. They are mature. I think it is time for them to be able to achieve whatever they want to achieve. That is their dream. I think they are all ready to achieve this.”
Commenting on Arsenal's resilience and ability to no longer snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, he added: “I think we have been doing this from the beginning of the season. Everybody is ready to give their best. We know we have worked on every aspect. We try to do our best in every game. At the end, we got the win and that is the most important thing.
“It’s another game that we were able to go 2-0 down and then we are able to go up and win the game. I think this will raise the spirit of the team and of the fans to keep on supporting. This is the football that we all want to play.”
A great game to watch too – even at two-all. Poor Bournemouth not only lost a match they could have won, they ended the weekend at the bottom of the Premier League table on goal difference, after arch-rivals Southampton won on Saturday night.
Talking of celebrations, Partey also wanted to use the moment to celebrate the life of his former international team-mate Christian Atsu, who was killed in last month's earthquake in Turkey. Watch a clip of him scoring his goal and Partey aborts displaying his tribute t-shirt to focus on restarting the match. Instead, he revealed it after the final whistle. 'Rest well Christian Atsu' it read. A poignant moment in a moment of otherwise unqualified delight for the home team.
“I wanted to get the chance to dedicate this to him,” Partey added. “We all saw that we have to believe and I believe that I dedicated the goal to him. At the end, I am happy, I wish him rest well in peace.”
Substitute Reiss Nelson's spectacular winning half-volley in the seventh minute of time added on at the end – nearly half an hour after Ben White's first Arsenal goal had levelled the score – remained uppermost in most minds in the heat of the moment.
The homegrown Hale End winger has taken longer to mature than many of his fellow academy graduates, but was in sparkling form before a recent injury and is now set for an extended opportunity following an injury to fellow wide man Leandro Trossard.
That could mean a start on Thursday night and involvement at Fulham at the weekend.
Either way, Partey will be happy to play alongside him and added: “I think it is not the first time he has done that for us this season. The last time we played Nottingham Forest also, it was the same. It is the quality we have. It is the belief we have. Everyone is working hard. We all know what we want to achieve. Everyone is working hard to help the team.”
Ramsdale 7; Tomiyasu 5 (White 45), Saliba 6, Gabriel 6, Zinchenko 7; Odegaard 7, Partey 7, Vieira 5 (Xhaka 84); Saka 7, Trossard 6 (Smith Rowe 22, Nelson 69), Martinelli 7.
Turner, Tierney, White, Kiwior, Holding, Jorginho.
Neto 7; Smith 7, Mepham 7, Stephens 7, Senesi 7, Zemura 6 (Fredericks 64); Ouattara 7 (Christie 82), Billing 7, Rothwell 6 (Cook 70), Semenyo 6 (Anthony 64); Solanke 8.
Travers, Randolph, Stacey, Moore, Pollock.
Chris Kavanagh 5.
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