Arsenal produced a stirring comeback to hold Bournemouth, but the overriding feeling amongst everyone associated with the club will be "that's two points further behind Chelsea we might be now." What cannot be denied, though, is that the Gunners showed tremendous mental strength to come back from three goals down at the Vitality Stadium in the Premier League on Tuesday.
Playing a second game in two days, Arsenal left the door wide open for Bournemouth to waltz through, and the home team obliged by finding the back of the net on three occasions. With a 3-0 lead and just 20 minutes remaining in the contest, it looked like being a wonderful victory for Eddie Howe's side, but Arsenal found the location of the comeback button.
Alexis Sanchez started it, before Lucas Perez scored the goal that meant Arsenal only needed one more to salvage a point. That point came their way when Olivier Giroud, the hero of Arsenal's last match, scored in stoppage time to make it 3-3.
The 3-0 lead for Bournemouth was a result of some awful defending from Arsenal, whose old failings at the back came to the fore time and again as the home side cut through with ridiculous ease.
Charlie Daniels opened the scoring on 16 minutes, taking a crossfield pass before easing past Hector Bellerin and slotting the ball beyond Petr Cech at the near post.
Ryan Fraser then drew a penalty after going down under the challenge of Granit Xhaka after Arsenal carelessly gave the ball away and Callum Wilson, who also scored a spotkick in the reverse fixture, made it 2-0 from the spot.
Those two goals came inside the first 20 minutes of the game, so there was time for the Gunners to fight back. Unfortunately, though, Arsenal went missing and Bournemouth kept pressing the backline, with Bellerin enduring a trying time against the pace of Fraser.
Just before the hour, Fraser would torment Bellerin again, overpowering the Arsenal right-back, before somehow finding a way past Cech to roll the ball into the net and give Bournemouth an everyone-thought-it-was-the-icing-on-the-cake 3-0 lead.
Arsenal, though, showed their own attacking prowess in the final 20 minutes. Sanchez gave Arsenal hope on 70 minutes, nodding home from close range after Giroud deflected a cross from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain onto the forward's path.
Five minutes later it was 3-2 when Lucas Perez volleyed home off a pass from Giroud, with Bournemouth left with only ten men with eight minutes to play as Simon Francis saw a straight red for a challenge on Aaron Ramsey – it was harsh, but you could also see why it was given.
With the pressure now only going one way, Arsenal found the equaliser with a proper centre-forward's header from Giroud off a cross from Xhaka with the Frenchman then bringing out a scorpion kick celebration in ode to his stunning goal against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
The point means the deficit to Chelsea is now eight points, but if the Blues beat Tottenham on Wednesday, it will be eleven and surely title dreams done for Arsenal. So, all the Gooners out there will be gritting their teeth and hoping their biggest rivals manage to trip up Chelsea.
