Arsenal vs Bournemouth Premier League preview, team news and prediction

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Arsenal are one win away from matching their best Premier League winning streak of the 2025-26 season as they host Bournemouth at the Emirates in Saturday’s lunchtime kickoff. The Gunners have won four league games in a row, while the Cherries have become draw specialists, recording five consecutive stalemates in the top flight.

With domestic cup frustration and Champions League momentum dominating the narrative, Arsenal’s league position has almost flown under the radar. Mikel Arteta’s side have put together four straight Premier League victories to move beyond the 70-point mark, seeing off Tottenham, Chelsea, Brighton and Everton in the process. Against Everton last time out, Viktor Gyokeres finished from close range before Max Dowman struck a landmark goal, as Arsenal extended their advantage over Manchester City to nine points — albeit having played a game more.

Saturday’s match ends a near month-long wait for Arsenal’s next league fixture. They have already won five Premier League games in a row twice this season, and only in 2013-14 and 2022-23 have they managed three separate runs of five or more league wins in a single campaign.

Silverware in the EFL Cup and FA Cup may not be forthcoming, but Arsenal are well placed in Europe after Tuesday’s hard-fought 1-0 first-leg win over Sporting Lisbon, ahead of next Wednesday’s return leg at the Emirates. Before attention shifts to a potential semi-final meeting with Atletico Madrid, Arteta’s team are targeting an eighth straight home win in all competitions, with six of their last seven at the Emirates featuring at least two Arsenal goals.

It is a Basque-on-Basque battle at 12:30pm, with Andoni Iraola attempting to guide Bournemouth to their longest unbeaten Premier League run. The visitors are unbeaten in 11 league matches — their best such sequence in the competition — though seven of those games have ended level, including each of the last five.

Bournemouth drew with West Ham, Sunderland, Brentford, Burnley and Manchester United before the international break, results that have done little to shift their position in 13th but have kept slim European hopes alive. A four-point gap to seventh-placed Brentford remains bridgeable, and Iraola’s side are unbeaten in their last five away league games, even if their last two trips have finished 0-0.

The Cherries have caused Arsenal problems since the start of last season, winning twice in that period — including a shock 2-1 victory at the Emirates last spring, their first-ever away win over the Gunners. However, Arsenal had the last word in January with a dramatic 3-2 win at the Vitality Stadium, where Declan Rice scored twice to seal the points.

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Declan Rice, Gabriel Magalhaes and Leandro Trossard all shook off knocks to feature in the win over Sporting, but Trossard and Martin Odegaard both picked up new problems that must be assessed ahead of the weekend. Arsenal will definitely be without Piero Hincapie (unspecified), Eberechi Eze (calf) and Mikel Merino (foot). There are also doubts over Bukayo Saka (unspecified) and Jurrien Timber (groin).

Any issues for Odegaard and Trossard could, however, open the door for Arteta to start the two players who made the decisive impact off the bench on Tuesday night: Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz.

Bournemouth also had a minor concern over the international break, with Eli Junior Kroupi withdrawing from France’s Under-21 camp, but the 19-year-old is expected to be fit for the trip to the Emirates. Kroupi has nine Premier League goals this season and could become the first teenager in 26 years to reach double figures in his debut Premier League campaign, following Robbie Keane for Coventry City in 1999-00.

Tyler Adams (unspecified) and Lewis Cook (thigh) are still being monitored and have not been definitively ruled out, while Justin Kluivert (knee) and Julio Soler (thigh) are not expected back until next month.

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