Wenger confirms injuries to Giroud and Debuchy after Bournemouth win

Arsenal nearly restored their lead when a Sanchez strike came off the crossbar but Walcott did score when he headed in a Monreal cross.

Another surprise, Wenger’s decision to drop Carl Jenkinson from his squad completely, meant centre-back Gabriel was deployed as Debuchy’s replacement.

Barely two minutes later they found the equaliser, through their danger man, Wilson, after Monreal nudged the forward to the ground inside the area. “Walcott was just a kick”.

“That’s a hard one”, he said about the first incident.

“I had Coquelin who was ready to play right-back as well”.

– Olivier Giroud has been involved in more goals from the bench than any other Premier League player this season (3 goals, 1 assist).

Sanchez is quoted as saying by The Daily Express: “The boss told me I’d be playing as a the striker and I’m gradually getting used to it”. A couple of things have gone against us.

And with Spurs suffering their first league defeat of the season, losing 2-1 to leaders Chelsea on Saturday, the Gunners have opened up a four-point gap between themselves and their north London neighbours in fifth. “But we’re looking for consistency”, he said.

Bournemouth did not give up hope and continued to move the ball neatly through the pitch, with most of their attacks targeted down the right-hand side. Arsenal came out for the second half fired up and immediately started to pile pressure on Bournemouth, who had their net breached for a second time on Sunday afternoon after 53 minutes.

But Wenger acknowledged that the Bournemouth penalty had unsettled his team.

“On top of that, I felt we started well but when they equalised we were nervous and that’s where having three consecutive draws played a little bit on our minds”. “We have not lost and, of course, when you play at home you want to win your games”.

With Arsenal searching for an early goal to eliminate lingering jitters and uncertainty after three successive draws, their early pressure paid off when Alexis Sanchez was rewarded for his tenacity as he capitalised on Steve Cook’s terrible short backpass to finish assuredly and give his team the lead.

The midfielder, who has thus far scored 12 times and provided 24 assists in 159 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal, also has 34 caps and two goals for England to his name.