BOURNEMOUTH, England (AP) – Arsenal ended a four-game winless run by scoring quick-fire goals to beat Bournemouth 2-0 on Sunday, rising to third in the Premier League.
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Aaron Ramsey has claimed Arsenal’s win at Bournemouth has kickstarted their season before their clash with leaders Leicester this weekend.
He said: “Leicester have made a big impression in the last week after their results and is now the favourite”.
This season is already one of the most memorable in the history of the Premier League with Chelsea’s struggles and Leicester’s heroics just two of the highlights so far. “So that means suddenly they become the favorite in the league”.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, speaking to BBC Sport: “We had a strong start, with good finishing and we controlled the game”.
“So it was important to stay in touching distance of them and it will be an interesting game on Sunday”.
‘For me at the moment, Leicester are the team to win it. They’re not only showing they can win it, they’re showing they can cope with the pressure’.
Laurent Koscielny, captain at Bournemouth with Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker left out, said: “We didn’t play well during January and we didn’t win a lot of points”.
“We of course look at their strong points to make a strong defensive performance against them. We have to prepare now”.
Bournemouth remain five points clear of the relegation zone after the defeat, with manager Eddie Howe bemoaning a costly poor start to the game.
“Our response to conceding two goals quickly was good”.
The Gunners were barely troubled by their former striker Benik Afobe, who joined the Cherries from Wolves for £10m last month, although goalkeeper Petr Cech was forced into a late double save to deny Simon Cook and then Harry Arter. But this is the reality right now and in one weeks time every single player and fan must be urging our players to do their very best to get all three points and close the gap on our opponents at the top of the table.
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By the end of the match, Bournemouth could have perhaps felt unlucky with the result especially after they saw their appeals for a red card waved away after Mathieu Flamini committed an innocous looking challenge on Dan Gosling with the score at 0-0.
