Arsenal goes six points clear after 3-2 win over Bournemouth

BOURNEMOUTH,  England 

Declan Rice's second-half double proved crucial to put Arsenal six points clear at the top of the Premier League table via a 3-2 win over Bournemouth, despite multiple scares on the south coast.

Rice - who missed the win over Aston Villa with a swollen knee but was straight back in the starting line-up - proved his value to the team by crashing in two goals from inside the box.

It was a match the midfielder nearly missed as his recovery from a swollen knee was touch-and-go. "Until the last minute I asked him, 'how are you feeling?'" recalled Mikel Arteta. "He said, I'm in. And he showed that he was big time in."

But it was a tricky encounter for the league leaders against Andoni Iraola's side, who did the double over the Gunners last season, and Paul Merson described their first-half display as "one of the worst first halves I've seen Arsenal have".

That was no better seen when Gabriel gifted Evanilson a tap-in after just 10 minutes via a slack pass across his goal. The Bournemouth forward had the simple task of rolling the ball into an empty net.

Arsenal were rattled as Justin Kluivert went close to doubling the Cherries' lead, but Gabriel made amends six minutes later by levelling from inside the box after a mazy Noni Madueke run.

Bournemouth caused more problems until the half-time break, when Mikel Arteta put in another solid half-time team talk. Nine minutes after the restart, Martin Odegaard set up Rice with a deft pass on the edge of the box to crash home.

Rice doubled his tally after Odegaard released substitute Bukayo Saka down the right with another slick ball - with the Arsenal midfielder tapping home after his England team-mate cut it across.

But Bournemouth were not done as substitute Junior Kroupi set up a grandstand finish with a curling effort from distance.