Gary O’Neil says two Arsenal stars were ‘incredible’ vs Bournemouth

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A ‘devastated’ Gary O’Neil was left rueing two ‘incredible’ moments from Aaron Ramsdale and Reiss Nelson as Premier League leaders Arsenal come from behind to beat Bournemouth 3-2 at the Emirates Stadium, speaking to the Dorset Echo. 

Hallmark of champions, anyone?

There were slight shades of Vincent Kompany’s blockbuster, of ‘Machedaaaaa!’, of Brian Kidd on his knees on the Old Trafford turf as substitute Reiss Nelson lined up a shot and put forward his nominee for the season’s defining moment. 

It was a game Arsenal were losing after nine seconds and only led for the first time some 5,800 later.

There were 97 minutes on the clock when a certain Hale End graduate fizzed past Neto in North London; one of Bournemouth’s finest performances of the entire campaign destined to take on the role of a footnote in a wider narrative. 

Reiss Nelson and Aaron Ramsdale heroic in Arsenal’s Bournemouth comeback

“My initial thoughts and feelings are (to be) devastated,” O’Neil sighs. “Especially at the last goal. Such a good strike. He won’t hit one like that too often. So, yeah, it was a big blow. Most teams that come here get dispatched very easily and (we) didn’t. They worked their socks off.

“Obviously, it’s a tough place to come. They have fantastic players. They are very well coached, cause you loads of problems. And we came up short of taking a point off the league leaders.”

Ramsdale’s superb point-blank stop to deny Dango Ouattara when Bournemouth were already 1-0 up was not exactly the moment Arsenal supporters went to bed dreaming about on Saturday night. But do not underplay it’s importance. 

“(It was a) real big chance,” O’Neil adds. “Aaron Ramsdale makes an incredible save on the counter-attack.

“The lads put in an awful lot of work, and you suffer to an incredible strike from the edge of the box with maybe two or three kicks of the game left.”

Nelson’s Macheda-moment means Arsenal remain five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table. Bournemouth, meanwhile, sank to the bottom after local rivals Southampton claimed a vital 1-0 win over Leicester City.