It was Arsenal, who completed a very late comeback against Bournemouth, as they rescued a point in injury time having fallen 3-0 behind with Giroud scoring in the 92nd minute to finally earn his side a point which seemed highly unlikely at one stage. The Gunners looked destined for a third away league defeat in a row, before a late rally that began with a diving Alexis Sanchez header first and eventually got some more momentum, when a stunning Lucas Perez left-footed volley reduced the gap to a single goal.
Bournemouth went down to 10 men when Simon Francis was sent off for a challenge on Aaron Ramsey and Arsenal capitalized as Olivier Giroud headed a 92nd-minute equalizer.
Arsene Wenger’s men produced a dismal display for the first hour against a fighting Bournemouth side, who took the lead when Charlie Daniels put one coolly past Petr Cech, as Arsenal loanee Jack Wilshere watched on from the stands.
Callum Wilson, whose penalty in the reverse fixture at the Emirates, was Bournemouth’s first competitive goal against Arsenal, added another to his name, as he doubled the advantage from the spot before half-time and Ryan Fraser made it 3-0 prior to the hour mark.
Petr Cech was the busiest man in a positive opening spell from Bournemouth, with the Gunners goalkeeper saving a speculative effort from Junior Stanislas before just making enough contact on a through ball to deny Wilson a run at goal or a penalty shout.
There was nothing that Cech could do to stop the hosts from taking the lead after 16 minutes. Stanislas fired a long pass to Daniels on the left flank and the full-back skipped inside a challenge from the sleeping Hector Bellerin before side-footing home at the near post.
It just got worse for the Gunners four minutes later, as Granit Xhaka made an error to bring Fraser to the ground inside the area on a Bournemouth break, allowing Wilson to sweep the ball down the middle and into the net from the penalty spot.
Arsenal turned up the pressure early in the second half, but they thought they were 3-0 down after 55 minutes, only for referee Michael Oliver to award a handball in their favour after Wilson diverted Harry Arter’s shot into the net with his arm.
However, the Cherries only needed another two minutes to send the Vitality Stadium into dreamland. Fraser did not give up on a long ball, as he chased it along with Bellerin, whom he nudged to the ground, striding into the area from the left and slotting low past Cech and into the bottom corner.
Despite that, things soon changed for the home side, as Sanchez dived to nod Giroud’s header across goal into the net and give the Gunners a glimmer of hope of taking back something, with 20 minutes to play.
It was Lucas Perez who volleyed in a superb goal from a tight angle five minutes later to leave the home fans fearful of the worst.
When things started falling apart, Bournemouth further lost Francis, as he was sent off in the closing stages for a lunge on Ramsey and the north London made their superior numbers count, as striker Olivier Giroud glanced at a cross put into the box by Xhaka, from the right into the bottom corner to salvage a draw.
The draw on Tuesday at the Vitality stadium moves Arsenal to within eight points of current leaders Chelsea, who lost 2-0 to Spurs on Wednesday at White Hart Lane.
