Twitter reacts to Arsenal's stoppage-time drama against Bournemouth

Reiss Nelson was the coolest Arsenal fan at the Emirates Stadium when wheeling away to celebrate his stoppage-time winner
Reiss Nelson was the coolest Arsenal fan at the Emirates Stadium when wheeling away to celebrate his stoppage-time winner / Shaun Botterill/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit

For the second time in three weeks, Arsenal completed a comeback with a sumptuous strike in stoppage time, not only preserving their title hopes but adding more weight to the argument that this may finally be the season the Gunners reclaim the English top flight.

However, 9.11 seconds into Saturday's helter-skelter 3-2 victory against Bournemouth, talks of any golden destiny seemed fanciful.

Last season Bournemouth scored six seconds into the second half of a meeting with Fulham when the pair shared the Championship. The move was copied by teams from Cliftonville to Paris Saint-Germain and the Cherries came up with another sequence against Arsenal that might spark some recreations in the Northern Irish top flight.

Philip Billing found himself on the end of this slick sequence, tucking the ball into the net for the second-fastest Premier League goal in history.

Mikel Arteta's side had a suffocating monopoly of possession - Thomas Partey completed more first-half passes than the entire Bournemouth team combined - but the Gunners couldn't recover from Billing's very early opener before the interval.

With just under an hour played, Marco Senesi doubled Bournemouth's lead from a corner - much to the disbelief of everyone watching.

Thomas Partey, who afforded Senesi a free run to the near post for Bournemouth's second goal, struck from a corner of Arsenal's own five minutes later. Emile Smith Rowe - who was substituted on for the injured Leandro Trossard in an eventful first half - nodded the ball back into the box for Partey to volley in.


manual


Smith Rowe had to make way himself but that afforded an emphatic cameo for Reiss Nelson. The substitute created Ben White's equaliser, driving down the left and firing the ball across the box for his fellow sub to divert it over the line before Neto got his paws on it.

Arsenal kept on coming at Neto's fortified goal, launching an avalanche of shots which ultimately paid off - even if relying upon Nelson's first left-footed league goal since 2018 isn't the most reproducible strategy.

The celebrations for Nelson's winner were passionate to say the least. From Arsenal players on the field...

...and former Gunners off it.

Victory ensured the Gunners have reestablished a five-point lead at the Premier League summit. With 12 games of the season left to play, there is a long way to go - especially if Arsenal are capable of scoring and conceding in every single minute of each remaining fixture.