A 4-0 loss to Southampton on Boxing Day was far from ideal after Arsenal beat Man City just days before.

Therefore, Arsenal needed a response against Bournemouth in order to keep our title hopes thriving going into January.

The first half against the Cherries was nervy to say the least. Bouremouth were attacking at ease and our performance was summed up by a few rash challenges from Bellerin, Gibbs, Ramsey and Chambers early on. We couldn’t get a foot-hold in the game and resorted to flying in left, right and centre. In fact, one of our only bright sparks during the opening half was – surprise, surprise – Mesut Ozil. The German consistently created chances but none of our forwards could manage to do anything with them.

Luckily, Ozil’s plugging payed off. Some great play from the Ox on the wing led to a corner, which led to a 27th minute Gabriel goal. The superb header marked the defender’s first and our resident playmaker got his 16th assist of the season and his 30th since signing for Arsenal.

After the first goal we came close again from Per, when the ball hit him in the face off the post (lol) but annoyingly bounced out of play, and Ramsey (once again from an Ozil corner knocked on by Gabriel).

Arsenal continued to dominate the first half and went in at half time deserving the lead.

The second half started the way the second ended and although Bournemouth did manage to mount a couple of attacks, a mouth-watering flick from Giroud allowed Ozil to become the goalscorer in the 63rd minute. The finish was just as sublime as his assists and it’s obvious the midfielder’s confidence is growing by the game.

Although Bournemouth weren’t without their chances, we didn’t look particularly under pressure too often during the remainder of the game.

However, it is becoming even clearer how much we rely on Ozil for his creativity going forward. All jokes aside, the man is simply unreal.

2-0 Arsenal.