Owen Hargreaves claims only two Arsenal players ‘played properly’ in Bournemouth defeat

Owen Hargreaves believes only Declan Rice and Gabriel Magalhaes ‘played properly’ in Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta’s side delivered another unconvincing performance as Viktor Gyokeres’ penalty cancelled out Junior Kroupi’s opener before Alex Scott scored the winner for Bournemouth in the 74th minute at the Emirates Stadium.

The defeat means Arsenal are still nine points clear at the top of the Premier League but Manchester City now have two games in hand and also play the Gunners next Sunday.

Arteta, meanwhile, continues to face criticism over Arsenal’s playing style and their inability to create several clear-cut chances during games.

‘They [Arsenal] didn’t play confident,’ Hargreaves told Premier League Productions.

‘I was at the game and the crowd were super up for it at the beginning of the game, by the end of it they were not happy with what they saw.

‘The only ones who played properly were Declan Rice and Gabriel, the rest of them got thoroughly outplayed.

‘Bournemouth were brilliant by the way, they pressed the life out of Arsenal.

‘Arsenal could not keep the ball for the life of them, kept going long, they’d pass the ball back to the goalkeeper, I think it was 39 times in the game, David Raya had the second-most passes of an Arsenal player. They just really encouraged Bournemouth into that press and the press is probably one of the best in the Premier League but they just surprised Arsenal and they deserved to win the game.

‘I think the biggest problem is they’ve been outplayed in three of the last four games – City in the Carabao Cup final, Southampton in the FA Cup, and then today.

‘They had the win against Sporting but David Raya was one of their best players in that game and he made quite a few saves so there is a little bit of a trend there where they’re being outplayed.

‘They’ve worked so hard to get to this point but they have to finish the job. Today they lacked a little bit of courage, belief and a little bit of aggression in crucial moments, Bournemouth were more aggressive today.’

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