Declan Rice admitted that ‘silly mistakes’ are hurting ‘naive’ Arsenal as William Saliba’s red card paved the way for Bournemouth to pull off a 2-0 victory.
Substitutes Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert both scored in the second half, handing the Gunners a first away defeat in the Premier League in 2024.
Saliba’s sending off in the 30th minute, having brought Evanilson down following a poor Leandro Trossard backpass, was the game’s pivotal moment — and follows a recent pattern of indiscipline.
Rice was sent off against Brighton for delaying the restart, and Trossard was dismissed facing Manchester City for also kicking the ball away.
After yesterday’s concerning defeat, Rice said: ‘We’ve kicked ourselves in the foot three times in eight games and we got away with it at home to Brighton and away at Manchester City. Bournemouth kept probing and made it 2-0.
‘I’m proud of the players for fighting, even with 10 men, but the naivety, we need to stop making mistakes because you want 11 players for 90 minutes and that’s what wins you football matches.
‘With 10 men we showed a lot of character and personality to stay in the game. The big chance was (Gabriel) Martinelli’s and the keeper read it and made a great save and one minute later, normally a routine we are so strong at, has done us.
‘We can’t make silly mistakes. You need all your best players on the pitch at all times.’
Mikel Arteta said: ‘We are very disappointed with the result and gutted because we had to play in that context again.
‘Even more difficult than the previous two that we have faced this season to do it with 65 or 68 minutes with 10 men at this level, it’s just an impossible task.
‘It’s an accident waiting to happen not to get the points. I cannot fault the team for their effort, their commitment, to play in the way we had to do it. There was a big moment at 0-0 when we have a one-vs-one with the ‘keeper and we don’t manage to score. Then in the other end we do that.’
On if he wanted more from his players, he added: ‘More with 10 men? Well I don’t know what more we can do when you have to play away from home in this league. It’s hard enough to do it with 11 so what we’ve done with 10 is quite remarkable.’
