Arsenal 1-2 Bournemouth: Shocking xG stat emerges as Mikel Arteta highlights one "really bad" mistake

Arsenal's open-play Expected Goals against Bournemouth on Saturday was their second-lowest on record in a Premier League home match, as the Cherries delivered a devastating blow to the Gunners' title chances with a 2-1 victory.

Victory for Mikel Arteta's men at the Emirates Stadium would have temporarily taken them 12 points clear of Manchester City in the Premier League table before the Citizens' showdown with Chelsea on Sunday.

Arsenal also came into the lunchtime kickoff on the back of a morale-boosting 1-0 Champions League victory over Sporting Lisbon, but their domestic fortunes still took another turn for the worst.

Eli Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott struck either side of a Viktor Gyokeres leveller to propel Andoni Iraola's men to a statement 2-1 win - an identical result to their trip to the Emirates from the 2024-25 season.

With no Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze only fit enough for a second-half cameo, Arsenal's creativity was largely non-existent, and the stats told the full story in that regard.

Arsenal register second-lowest open play xG in Premier League home game

Arsenal’s open play xG against Bournemouth was 0.19 – only once have they had lower in a Premier League home match on record (from 2021-22), registering 0.17 v Crystal Palace in October 2025. pic.twitter.com/KwtkORyQJl
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) April 11, 2026

Across the 90 minutes on Saturday, Arsenal registered a mere 0.19 xG from open play, which was their second-lowest on record in a Premier League home game since the 2021-22 season.

The Gunners have only ever recorded a lower open-play xG in a Premier League match at the Emirates against Crystal Palace in October, registering 0.17 but still triumphing 1-0 thanks to an Eze strike.

However, the England international - back earlier than expected from a calf injury - was powerless to prevent Arsenal from falling to a third straight domestic defeat, after their EFL Cup and FA Cup heartache.

While Arteta's men still boast a nine-point lead at the top of the table, City now have two games in hand and will also welcome the table-toppers to the Emirates for next weekend's crunch clash.

Mikel Arteta laments one "really bad" Arsenal mistake in Bournemouth loss

Bournemouth's first goal in North London came out from a deflected cross, as Adrien Truffert left Ben White for dead and saw his delivery cannon off William Saliba's foot into the path of Kroupi.

Arteta highlighted that moment as a particularly poor mistake from his players, albeit while refusing to criticise anyone individually, saying: "It's extremely disappointing. It's a big punch in the face, it's about how we react now.

"The first opportunity they had to attack the box, it was a deflection, a really bad defensive action and it cost us a goal.

"That's something we have to deal with emotionally, we tried to recover and push them, we scored from the penalty and you expect a different game. But we did a lot of strange things today."

Arsenal have three full days to recover before the second leg of their UCL quarter-final with Sporting, which precedes their daunting trip to the Etihad next Sunday.