Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola pointed to set-piece routine not being picked up as key during his team’s surprise Premier League win against Arsenal last weekend
Andoni Iraola has hinted that Arsenal’s set piece analysts failed to notice the warning signs for Ryan Christie’s opening goal last weekend because it came from a routine that Bournemouth have succeeded with on more than one occasion.
The Cherries chief saw his team claim the 10-man Gunners’ scalp with a 2-0 win last Saturday evening, handing Mikel Arteta ’s side a major early blow in the title race.
And while Arsenal have been hailed for their dead ball prowess in the past 18 months, Iraola said Christie’s effort was close to a replica of a goal they scored last season and another effort that was ruled out on the opening day of this campaign.
“We scored from a very similar routine against QPR in the FA Cup last season but nobody talked about that goal,” Iraola said during his press conference to preview Bournemouth’s trip to Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon.
And the Basque added that the routine was only noticed more last weekend because it came against a super club rather than a smaller club.
“When you do these things against this kind of opposition, everyone is paying more attention. I think we also scored a very good routine against [Nottingham] Forest in the first game but it was disallowed.
“We are doing good stuff. We’ve had another three set-piece goals disallowed and probably we weren’t getting all the value we were doing at set plays.”
Arsenal, meanwhile, are preparing to host league leaders Liverpool on Sunday afternoon in what already appears to be a huge clash between the two most likely contenders to end Manchester City ’s vice-like grip on the trophy.
Arteta’s side brushed the Bournemouth loss by beating Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday but he says it is “uncertain” whether injured trio Bukayo Saka, Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber are able to return on Sunday.
“We are going to do our very best to somehow have them available. But it’s very, very uncertain,” Arteta told reporters at his pre-match press conference. On Calafiori, he said: “He needs some more tests, yesterday he had some and today he will have some more. Let’s see how it is.”
As for Saka, he explained: “He’s done a bit of training on the grass. How far we can get him before Sunday, that’s another question. We have another day, that’s a good thing. But we will see.”
Defender William Saliba will also be absent – he is serving a one-match ban for the red card shown at Bournemouth.
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