Anyone who knows a little about the Premier League would not have dared to predict that Arsenal, who are aiming to win the title this season, would dare to lose away to Bournemouth, even if Odegaard and Bukayo Saka are out injured.
Bournemouth finished 7 rounds, 2 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses, 8 points and ranked 13th, the battle power has exploded, but the two games won defeated only Ipswich Town, who returned to the Premier League after 28 years, and Everton, who were extremely downcast, really can't see that Bournemouth has the strength to beat Arsenal.
Arsenal has 17 points from 5 wins and 2 draws in 7 rounds, and is temporarily in third place only because of 1 goal less than Manchester City, beating Bournemouth to get the Premier League top experience card, which is a task that Arsenal must complete.
Last season, Arsenal easily beat Bournemouth home and away, and won 4-0 away, although Odegaard and Saka were absent due to injury, but Sterling, who started in place of Saka, was the player with the most goals against Bournemouth, plus Merino's start, this squad should be enough to get through easily.
However, the lack of Odegaard's management left Bukayo Saka out of the game far more than expected, and Arsenal were dragged into a hard-fought battle by Bournemouth until the 22nd minute, when Raheem Sterling had his first shot on goal.
Seeing that he had just found the feeling of attack, but the dull game took a dramatic turn - in the 27th minute, Trossard's naturalistic return pass directly stabbed his own defense, and the chasing Saliba had to make a tactical foul to bring down Evanilsson, who was almost single-handed.
Referee Jones immediately gave a yellow card, but at VAR's suggestion, Jones looked back at the scene and determined that Saliba had blocked a clear chance to score, and the yellow card was upgraded to a straight red, and Saliba was sent off for the first time in his career.
Saliba's departure meant that the most stable link of Arsenal's defence was broken, and Arteta, who was determined to win, was at a loss for a while. In the face of the Cherries' frantic attack, Arteta then opted to replace Raheem Sterling, who had the best performers, with Kiwior instead of the culprit Leandro Trossard.
The two sides ended the first half in a chaotic battle, and the 0-0 score also signaled that the second half would be more difficult.
Sure enough, after the start of the second half, Arsenal continued to be in danger in front of goal, and if it weren't for the Bournemouth striker's poor shooting, Arsenal would have conceded a goal long ago. Without the back pin, Raya also made mistakes in this game, and several shots and remedies only increased the danger. With no time to break the deadlock, Arteta finally brought on Martinelli in the 64th minute for the underperforming Leandro Trossard.
In the 67th minute, Arsenal finally had a great chance to change the score - Kepa Arrizabalaga's return pass was wrong, Merino broke the ball and sent a wonderful pass, but Martinelli's follow-up push actually hit Kepa. There was a penalty for wasting a chance and a minute later Bournemouth played a brilliant corner when substitute Christie fired into the far corner but Raya was unresponsive and the ball went into the net.
In the way of others, they also control their bodies. Bournemouth's goal hit Arsenal's morale hard, 10 minutes later, Kiwior made a mistake in the backfield, Evanilsson broke the ball and went straight to the penalty area, Raya had no choice but to attack Evanilsson down, Jones decisively awarded a penalty, and Kluivert hit a fatal blow to completely end the suspense of the game.
0 to 2! Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season and missed out on reaching the top of the table, while Liverpool and Manchester City laughed and said nothing - this hasn't started wrestling yet, why did they fall off the chain again?
Saliba's red card will be suspended for three games and will miss the next match against Liverpool, and there are all signs that Arsenal's rare title race will be ruined because of this red card......