Unai Emery’s tough tactics bear fruit in victory over Bournemouth

This place, as Unai Emery might have it, is under new management. In perhaps the most illuminating pronouncement of his tenure so far, Arsenal’s head coach said last week that the gangster drama Peaky Blinders is enhancing his English skills. There was nothing especially brutal about their disposal of Bournemouth but it added to a growing body of work that suggests something has changed. When Arsenal were accused of having a soft underbelly in previous years, the cap invariably fitted: suddenly they are eking out results and, in the best tradition of Emery’s favoured study aid, even looking a little mean.

For most who took their places at the Vitality Stadium, the reflex had been to sit back and enjoy whatever chaos unfolded. Arsenal had got themselves into all manner of pickles here in the previous two seasons, relying on a Lucas Pérez-inspired turnaround from 3-0 down in January 2017 before throwing away a winning position themselves 12 months later, losing 2-1 on an afternoon Petr Cech would rather forget. Against a chirpy Bournemouth, flavour of the month in the competition for best-of-the-rest, the potential for further scrapes appeared solid.

Emery’s commitment to setting a fast tempo from the touchline led, during the first half, to an animated discussion with the fourth official about the dimensions of the technical area. It certainly did not match Emery’s specifications but his ability to transmit information was unaffected. “Hello! Hello! Hello!” he cried to Bernd Leno in tones more Basque than Brummie, arms windmilling, hoping the goalkeeper would aim a clearance out to Sead Kolasinac. Leno heard, and speared the ball out of play. At that point Arsenal had not really settled and Bournemouth, enjoying the space to either side of Emery’s new-look back three, could hope to enjoy themselves once again.

Yet the entire tone of a curious first half, riddled with oddities major and minor, was one of things going awry. When Charlie Daniels and Ryan Fraser, lining up a Bournemouth free-kick in dangerous territory, contrived a lamentable fudge it seemed perfectly in keeping. Daniels backheeled the ball too far away from Fraser, who in any case was unprepared; they were given a second go of things by Craig Pawson, much to Emery’s fury, but one felt the most worthwhile instruction to either set of players would simply be to slow down.

Jefferson Lerma showed little appetite to do that when, tracking an invisible runner, he hared back into his own box and volleyed crisply past a bemused Asmir Begovic. Lerma is known for being a walking yellow card, and kept up appearances on that score later on, but this was an altogether more destructive contribution from a player who has, these frayed edges aside, made Bournemouth’s midfield considerably better.

View image in fullscreen

That was, in fact, as knockabout as things got. Joshua King’s superbly taken equaliser left questions as to the whereabouts of the left wing-back Kolasinac, who would make it into many all-star XIs if footballers were allowed only to run in straight lines, but Emery’s tactical tweak ultimately bore fruit. Kolasinac was once dubbed “a tank” by Theo Walcott and, in providing the ammunition for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s winner, showed his use in advanced areas with a second assist of the game. Arsenal were relatively comfortable thereafter, barring Lerma’s late brush with the upright, and Emery’s double fist-pump as he disappeared down the tunnel spoke of just how important it had been to grit this one out.

Bournemouth will, presumably, tail off further after meetings with Manchester City and Liverpool in the next fortnight. They are a fine side although the level of excitement about their start to the season does not necessarily reflect well on a starkly stratified Premier League whose struggle for meaning below the leading pack is increasingly real.

Emery, though, will be more interested in how Arsenal eventually held them at arm’s length this time. His gang – the one on the pitch, not the screen – look increasingly menacing.