Arsenal secured an easy 3-0 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday (20 August), and in doing so have won their opening three games of a Premier League campaign for the first time since 2004-05.
As a result of their perfect start to the 2022-23 season, the Gunners are top of the table and will hope their fine form continues going forward.
Weekend’s win was inspired by Norwegian midfielder Martin Odegaard, with the skipper bagging a brace in the opening 10 minutes at Vitality Stadium.
Gabriel Jesus evaded three players before threading a fine pass to Gabriel Martinelli, but the Brazilian had his effort saved by Cherries goalkeeper Mark Travers.
However, Odegaard was at the right place at the right time, burying the rebound to give the visitors an early lead.
The former Real Madrid man was in a good position again five minutes later, taking the ball off Jesus after the Brazilian’s first touch and putting his effort beyond Travers’ reach.
Arsenal made it 3-nil nine minutes after play restarted, with William Saliba opening his account by scoring a cracker following Granit Xhaka’s pass.
Jesus was close to giving Mikel Arteta’s side their fourth goal, but his strike was ruled out as he was marginally offside following checks from the VAR.
Martinelli and his attacking compatriot came close to scoring afterwards, but they could not find the back of the net.
Scott Parker’s side failed to threaten the Arsenal goal, with only one shot on target directed at Aaron Ramsdale all game.
Earlier wins over Crystal Palace and Leicester City have given the Gunners huge boosts and confidence, and with Fulham and Aston Villa up next, the North Londoners will be aiming for all six points before the trip to Manchester United.
Some impressive summer transfer businesses have allowed Arsenal to hit the ground running in the new season, but whether they have plans to make more additions to their squad before the transfer window shuts by the end of the month remains to be seen.
Having named an unchanged team for their opening three fixtures for the first time since 2003-04, just maybe Arteta has finally found the winning formula that will take the side to elite European football again and see them mount a strong title challenge.
Managers‘ Comments
Reacting to the victory, the Arsenal manager said:
“I am very happy. It’s really difficult to come here and win 3-0. So credit to the boys, the way we played, especially the way we started the game and continued to play.
“It’s not easy and we have a good example when they played Aston Villa how different the game was and how different the game became in some parts of the second half as well.
“At the same time, we have to look at ourselves and in many areas we can still get much better.”
An unhappy Parker said:
“I just thought in terms of our general demeanour, our body language, our humility to accept certain situations, we were easily disappointed.
“While we couldn’t get a foothold in the game or cause or pose Arsenal any sort of problem, our general demeanour was pretty poor, really. I was disappointed immensely in that, to be honest.”
