THE NOTEBOOK: Arsenal did a famous turnaround in a US tycoon face-off
THE NOTEBOOK: Arsenal are becoming the comeback kings after winning the battle of the American tycoons against Bournemouth… but Aaron Ramsdale was furious to miss out on his prized clean sheet
- Arsenal came from two goals down to win 3-2 in an epic match at the Emirates
- It was the first time the Gunners faced a Bournemouth side under US ownership
- Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale was not impressed by conceding after 9.11 seconds
In what was a frantic match from the opening whistle to the final curtain call, Arsenal came from behind to sneak a 3-2 win over Bournemouth at the Emirates.
When Philip Billing opened the scoring for the visitors after just 9.11 seconds, the hosts were shellshocked, and they saw their title challenge crumble further with Marcos Senesi’s goal just before the hour mark.
Then Mikel Arteta’s team started their epic turnaround, first through Thomas Partey, and then substitute Ben White.
With history at the beginning, maybe the match will be best remembered for the ending, as another sub, Reiss Nelson, came off the bench to strike a 97th-minute stunner to earn the three points to keep Arsenal five points clear at the top.
Sportsmail’s Nick Callow looks across some of the stories hidden amongst the crazy game at the Emirates.
Arsenal came from two goals down to beat Bournemouth 3-2 in a crazy at the Emirates
Battle of the US tycoons
American-owned Arsenal could have been excused for flying the Stars and Stripes to welcome Bournemouth’s new owner William P Foley II.
This match marked the first between the clubs since the US businessman paid in excess of £100million for the club in December.
Foley is also owner of ice hockey team the Vegas Golden Knights. But that is small time for Arsenal’s own American, Stan Kroenke, who owns nine sports teams.
Foley’s purchase of Bournemouth raises the number of US-owned Premier League clubs to eight.
The other six are: Wesley Edens (Aston Villa), Todd Boehly (Chelsea), John Textor (Crystal Palace), Shahid Khan (Fulham), John W Henry (Liverpool) and the Glazer family (Manchester United).
It was a battle of US tycoons as Stan Kroenke and his Gunners hosted William P Foley (R) and his Cherries side
Ramsdale fumes over missing clean sheet
Bournemouth’s early goal put paid to Aaron Ramsdale’s hopes of topping the Premier League clean-sheet table.
The Arsenal goalkeeper is never one to hide his anger when he concedes and he could have drawn level with Nick Pope’s 12 clean sheets.
Ramsdale’s next chance to add to his tally comes away at Fulham next weekend.
Aaron Ramsdale was less than impressed when Arsenal conceded within the first 10 seconds
Arsenal are the comeback kings
Reiss Nelson’s late winner secured Arsenal’s fourth comeback win since the World Cup. They scored another injury-time 4-2 victory at Aston Villa last month.
The first comeback triumph came at home to West Ham on Boxing Day in what was ultimately a comfortable 3-1 scoreline.
It took a 90th-minute effort from Eddie Nketiah to beat Manchester United 3-2 at the end of January.
Jorginho’s sign of times
Videos with messages from players are nothing new on the big screens at Arsenal but Jorginho’s appearance was one with a difference.
The midfielder started learning sign language during the pandemic and he showed off his new skill with a message welcoming supporters and telling them about the club’s inclusivity agenda.
This was Arsenal’s first match with fully integrated British sign language. And the two mascots both had non-visible disabilities.
Arsenal’s first game with fully integrated British sign language included a video from Jorginho
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