AT risk of falling eight points away from the top of the Premier League, Arsenal stopped the rot of four league matches without a win by beating Bournemouth here on the south coast. It was a must win moment for Arsene Wenger’s team in this most curious of title races, as the manager admitted afterwards there is a risk of leaders Leicester City looking like they are “running away” from the rest following  their emphatic victory at Manchester City yesterday.

“I agree that Leicester are now the favourites [to win the league],” Wenger said. “But we have a big match against them next week and we needed to win today to make next week interesting.”

There was certainly more verve and urgency about Arsenal than in recent matches, as if some of the players have woken up to the fact that, unlike other years, the club has reached the final few months still in contention.

Mesut Ozil was a case in point. Once criticised as lazy last season, here was chasing every loose ball. It was unfair that he was not awarde the television man of the match. Instead it went to Aaron Ramsey also looked to have found a fresh interest. It was his lofted ball, headed down by Olivier Giroud, which led Ozil to crashing the opening goal past Artur Boruc in the Cherries’ goal on 23 minutes. Sixty seconds later and Arsenal had the cushion they failed to secure on miserable away days at West Brom and Norwich, where leads were not converted into victory. This time Ramsey slipped in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who angled his shot in off the post. 

There were other chances. Alexis Sanchez thrashed a half chance over the bar and was a constant torment to the home side. Olivier Giroud meanwhile planted a header from a corner straight at the keeper. He’s done that before.

The great unknown, however,  is what would’ve happened if Mathieu Flamini had been sent off after nine minutes for a two-footed challenge which the majority of witnesses, Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe included, believed merited a red card.

It was a reckless challenge and could have undone Arsenal in such a critical fixture. Wenger drew one or two bemused looks when he said afterwards that he thought Flamini had reached the ball first and had been the one fouled by Dan Gosling.

In truth it was a lucky escape, for Bournemouth are an exciting, passing team who look to open up defences rather than relying on long punts. Matt Ritchie was a little greedy with his head down runs and ambitious long range shots, but the rest of the Cherries were full of imagination. Arsenal did well to restrict the home side’s best chances to two Petr Cech saves in the dying minutes. Trying to beat them with ten men had Flamini’s stupidity been punished with a stiffer penalty than a yellow card, would have been a tall order. Even more so due to the occasional spot of confusion which cropped up between Gabriel and Laurent Koscielny at the back. Both will need to sharpen up before they face Leicester and Vardy next week, and then Barcelona in the Champions League.

In the end, Wenger conceded, the result mattered more than the performance, however, admitting that the team had “lost confidence” due to the recent winless run.

“We are still in the title race,” he said. “But when you have four matches without a win it can affect the team. I was pleased because we had a good start. In the end it was about keeping the result we had.”

ARSENAL: Cech, Bellerin, Monreal, Koscielny (c), Gabriel, Ramsey, Flamini, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Coqueline 67), Sanchez (Gibbs 81), Giroud (Walcott 90)
SUBS NOT USED: Ospina, Campbell, Iwobi, Mertesacker
Attendance: 11, 357