Bournemouth 0 Arsenal 3: Odegaard hits two before Saliba wondergoal as rampant Gunners continue flying Prem start
THE last time Arsenal picked an unchanged team for their first three games of the season, they went on to win the league in 2003-04.
And while no-one is suggesting that this lot are Invincibles, they are playing with the kind of swagger which is reminiscent of Arsene Wenger’s all-conquering champions.
Another comprehensive victory leaves Mikel Arteta’s hungry young team sitting pretty in pink with maximum points at the top of the table, at least until champions Manchester City take on Newcastle this afternoon.
But it’s not the results which are raising expectations as much as the ruthless nature of their performances this season.
It was on Boxing Day 2019 when the Arteta revolution was launched here at the Vitality in his first game as Arsenal boss.
And less than three years on they are virtually unrecognisable from the team which had stunk the place out under Unai Emery.
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Two goals from Martin Odegaard effectively settled this match in the first 11 minutes before William Saliba made certain with his first goal for the club.
Odegaard has only just been appointed Arteta’s new captain and is already proving that the Arsenal armband is not as cursed as some might have believed.
Laurent Koscielny, Mesut Ozil, Granit Xhaka, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alex Lacazette all struggled to cope with the demands of the role.
But Odegaard is clearly not going to be weighed down by the responsibilities of his new role.
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And with new arrivals Saliba, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko all fitting seamlessly into Arteta’s project, it is little wonder that Gunners supporters are starting to believe that they could be about to witness something special.
It wouldn’t have been lost on those travelling fans that Bournemouth restricted Erling Haaland to just eight touches all game despite their 4-0 defeat by City last week.
Nor would they have missed the fact that Jesus had that many touches in the first five minutes alone to set his new team on their way to another three points.
Jesus had grown tired of playing in the Etihad shadows and knew it was time for a new challenge when Haaland was signed in the summer.
And how he is thriving in his new role as the focal point of all Arsenal’s attacking play following his £45million move south.
It took the Brazilian international just five minutes to expose Bournemouth’s nervous defensive line.
Marcos Senesi, starting his first game since his £12.5million move from Feyenoord, should have dealt with Ben White’s hopeful punt forward but allowed himself to be shrugged aside much too easily.
And once Jesus had the ball at his feet, there was no getting it off him until he had gone past three challenges to tee up Gabriel Martinelli.
Keeper Mark Travers just about managed to block Martinelli’s shot with an outstretched leg, but was powerless to keep out Odegaard’s follow-up.
Yet Arsenal were still only going through the gears and six minutes later were home and hosed when Odegaard struck again to deadly effect.
White’s low cross from the right picked out Jesus on the edge of the area and when his first touch wasn’t absolutely perfect, Odegaard nicked the ball off his team-mate’s toes to whip a first-time shot into the far corner.
Bournemouth didn’t know if they were coming or going and seeing Zinchenko turning on the party tricks to make a mug of Kieffer Moore when he was the last Arsenal man back did little to improve Scott Parker’s mood.
The Cherries boss had dismissed last week’s 4-0 defeat at Manchester City as a result which will not define their season.
But now he knows that it’s not just the champions who can have his team chasing shadows as they were cut to ribbons on their own patch by Arsenal’s slick passing game.
The gulf in class was further emphasised by Saliba’s stunning 54th minute strike, sweeping a sumptuous first time shot into the top corner after Martinelli’s deep cross had been helped on by Xhaka.
Jesus thought he had bagged the goal his performance deserved when he went round the stranded Mark Travers to net but VAR confirmed he was the length of a toenail offside when he raced on to Odegaard’s through pass.
Aaron Ramsdale, back at the ground where he had spent three years, could hardly have asked for an easier return to his former club.
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It wasn’t until the 78th minute that the Arsenal keeper was forced into his first meaningful save by Moore’s header – and even that was probably going wide.
And with Liverpool away next on their Premier League schedule, it’s not about to get easier any time soon for a Bournemouth team who are already looking out of their depth at this level.
They might have won their opening day fixture against Aston Villa, but so did Watford last season and it didn’t do them a lot of good.