Odegaard nets brace as Arsenal thrash Bournemouth to go top of EPL log

Arsenal maintained their perfect start to the Premier League season with a dominant 3-0 win over Bournemouth.

A year on from losing their first three matches of the campaign, Mikel Arteta’s side made it three wins on the bounce in a result that never looked in any doubt.

Martin Odegaard scored an early brace for the visitors before William Saliba scored a sublime third after the break, much to the delight of the away fans who spent much of the match serenading the Frenchman.

It moves the Gunners to the top of the Premier League table, at least until Manchester City travel to face Newcastle on Sunday.

Arsenal named an unchanged side for the third match in a row, with Mikel Arteta keen to stick to the winning formula that worked so well in the opening games of the season.

It only took 11 minutes at the Vitality for the match to be effectively put to bed as a contest. Gabriel Jesus brought the ball down superbly, turned and drove towards the Bournemouth goal, drifting past two challenges in the procees. He then played a wonderful reverse pass to Gabriel Martinelli, his shot was parried out to Odegaard and the Arsenal captain had a simple finish.

The Norwegian quickly had his second as Arsenal once again opened up the home defence. Ben White was played in on the right wing, he cut the ball back to Jesus, whose heavy touch fell perfectly into the path of Odegaard who hammered it into the far corner.

Martinelli and Bukayo Saka continued to cause problems in wide areas, while Oleksandr Zinchenko and Saliba were both imperious as Bournemouth struggled to get a kick in the first-half.

⏰ 05′ | Martin Odegaard
⏰ 11′ | Martin Odegaard
⏰ 54′ | William Saliba

Perfect in pink 👌

🍒 0-3 💖 (FT)#BOUARS pic.twitter.com/lH6bX9FLoB

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) August 20, 2022

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The hosts improved after the break, but within ten minutes of the restart any hopes of a comeback were ended. Granit Xhaka played the ball back to Saliba as a set-piece was swung in, and the popular Frenchman did the rest with a sensational finish from just inside the box.

Jesus thought he had got the goal his performance deserved, as he finished brilliantly from a lovely Odegaard pass, but his celebrations were in vain as VAR ruled the strike out for offside.

That did little to dampen the mood though, with the excitement levels at Arsenal showing no signs of slowing down.