At a Glance:
- Arsenal lost at home to Bournemouth on Saturday.
- The result significantly dents their Premier League title hopes.
- Micah Richards has raised concerns about the Gunners’ credentials moving forward.
Following Arsenal’s shock 2-1 defeat against AFC Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium, Micah Richards has questioned their credentials as potential Premier League champions.
Despite Viktor Gyokeres cancelling Eli Junior Kroupi’s opener out with a well-taken penalty in the 35th minute, Alex Scott’s eventual winner meant the Gunners suffered their third loss in their past four outings.
On the other hand, Manchester City showed they mean business in the title race as they vanquished Chelsea 3-0 at Stamford Bridge — winning their third game on the trot across all competitions.
With City having made light work of Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea in recent weeks, it seems like the momentum is swinging away from the Emirates Stadium.
Micah Richards questions Arsenal’s title dream after Bournemouth loss
Martin Zubimendi looked dejected following Bournemouth’s triumph and unsurprisingly so, considering Mikel Arteta’s side have well and truly let Manchester City back into the title race.
With just six points separating both sides at the top of the table and City also having a game in hand against Crystal Palace, Arsenal’s latest defeat could cost them at the end of the 2025/2026 campaign.
Considering Arsenal have also been knocked out of both the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup recently, Gary Lineker wondered whether the North London side were capitulating as a whole after losing to Bournemouth as well.
On the Rest Is Football podcast, Lineker asked Micah Richards: “Are Arsenal imploding before our very own eyes?”
While Richards felt Arsenal were not necessarily “imploding” per se, the pundit pinpointed that their attack looks far from convincing in particular and suggested it remains a longstanding worry, stating: “I would say no because of the Sporting Lisbon result. So, they didn’t, we had this conversation, didn’t we? And I feel like I repeat myself all the time. Arsenal are not creating enough chances. That has been their problem for a while. And this is not reactionary.”
While Gyokeres pinpointed Arsenal’s wastefulness against Bournemouth, the former Manchester City right-back believes Arsenal are overly reliant on scoring goals from set-pieces.
“This is what we’ve been talking about, I would say for months now. Set pieces have been getting them over the line. And then when they get a set piece, they’re growing to the game, they have confidence. That is one aspect of it. And I think you posed a question to me, is that going to be enough? And I’ve said, well, on paper, it shouldn’t be enough.”
“But they’re getting over the line with a set pieces, and you can only go off what they’re doing. And they had the massive league. So you say, yes, it’s going to be enough.”
Micah Richards further added how disappointing Arsenal’s latest outing was, concluding: “However, yesterday, they were very, very poor.”
Arsenal’s open play goals show worrying trend
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Arsenal have the standout defence in the league this campaign as they have conceded a mere 24 goals in 32 games.
However, their chance creation against Bournemouth highlights why Micah Richards has placed question marks on the league leaders’ inventiveness in the final third.
| STATS | ARSENAL | BOURNEMOUTH |
| xG | 2.54 | 1.19 |
| Open-play xG | 0.18 | 1.19 |
| Set-play xG | 1.35 | 0.00 |
Arsenal accumulated an xG (Expected Goals) of a lowly 0.18 from open play against the Cherries, with 1.35 out of the total 2.54 emerging from set pieces.
Furthermore, Arsenal have scored the sixth most goals from open play this season, which is a worrying trend when taking a peek at the title winners since 2017.
| SEASON | LEADERS | OPEN PLAY RANKING |
| 2017/2018 | Man City | 1st |
| 2018/2019 | Man City | 1st |
| 2019/2020 | Liverpool | 2nd |
| 2020/2021 | Man City | 2nd |
| 2021/2022 | Man City | 1st |
| 2022/2023 | Man City | 1st |
| 2023/2024 | Man City | 2nd |
| 2024/2025 | Liverpool | 1st |
| 2025/2026 | Arsenal | 6th |
Mikel Arteta will be hoping that in the upcoming weeks, his side up the ante in attack as recent history shows that as things stand, they seem to lack the makings of a title-winning side.
