The Premier League‘s latest VAR disasterclass may hogged the limelight after Arsenal’s win over Bournemouth, but as questionable as some of the decisions were it should not detract from what was another highly polished performance from Mikel Arteta’s side.
It was a particularly good day for three of Arsenal’s summer signings. Kai Havertz won a penalty (admittedly in controversial fashion) and dominated Bournemouth’s centre-back pairing from the first minute until the last, Declan Rice boosted his tallies for both goals and assists in the second half, and David Raya claimed another clean sheet to secure the Golden Glove award.
Between them, that trio cost in the region of £200m and there was no shortage of accusations that Arsenal had overpaid for both Rice (£105m) and Havertz (£65m).
The £30m fee for Raya which will be triggered upon the completion of his loan deal at the end of this season was the least scrutinised deal with that price influenced by his contractual situation at Brentford.
Nobody is debating the value of those deals now. Rice was the game’s best player despite having a mixed first half in which he failed to make the most of a counter-attack and missed a glorious chance to open the scoring.
He made amends in the second half with a glorious eyes-in-the-back-of-his-head assist for Leandro Trossard (another inspired recent buy) and a goal that summed him up to a tee: a crisp finish following a lung-busting run into the box in the 97th minute of the game with Arsenal already 2-0 up.
“Declan Rice, we got him half price,” might be pushing it, but he has justified that nine-figure fee during his debut season.
Joe Cole was certainly impressed by his fellow West Ham academy graduate, comparing Rice to “prime Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira”.
Those comments may have provoked some eye-rolls from TNT Sport‘s subscribers, but there’s no question that Rice has reached another level since moving London postcodes.
Rice has 15 direct goal involvements (seven goals, eight assists) in the league this season, which is nine more than he managed in his most productive campaign for the Hammers in 2022-23.
Rice got to take home the man of the match award, but Havertz ran him a close second despite not registering a goal or assist. It was the type of all-action centre forward display that might make Arteta think twice about bringing a new No 9 in this summer.
Ilia Zabarnyi and Marcos Senesi struggled to contain him, whether he dropped in to link the play or ran in behind to stretch the game. The 24-year-old brings a muscularity to the role that Arsenal have often lacked over the years, and is far more aggressive off the ball these days than he ever was in a Chelsea shirt.
“He was unbelievable today, honestly,” Arteta said. “Everything he did: the timings, the movements, how he keeps the ball, the way he goes to the press, how he links play, his understanding of the game.”
Raya was less eye-catching but made some decent stops to keep his 15th clean sheet in only his 30th league appearance for the club. The Spain international made an important stop at 1-0 to deny Dominic Solanke and swept up confidently when Bournemouth looked to send searching balls down the flanks.
He perhaps got away with an unconvincing piece of goalkeeping after being bumped out of the way by Solanke but received the benefit of the doubt from the referee David Coote and VAR.
“If we spend money we’d better do it wisely and in the most effective way!” Arteta said afterwards.
“We’re really happy with the recruitment that we had. It has had a big impact on the team, it has raised not only the level of the team but the level of the rest of the players as well. You see today we had some big performances from a lot of individuals.”
It has not always been like this for Arsenal. They were a club conspicuous by their wastefulness in those wilderness years, particularly during the ill-fated Sven Mislintat era when big fees were splurged on players who were either prematurely hyped up or else past their best.
Tough lessons were evidently learned. Sporting director Edu and Arteta have enjoyed plenty of hits in the transfer market and precious few misses in recent windows.
Big money has been spent but spent wisely. Of Saturday’s starting XI, all but two of them – Bukayo Saka and William Saliba – have been signed since the 2020 summer.
Smart, ambitious recruitment has helped Arsenal bridge the gap and it could make all the difference come 19 May.
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