What a moment! Arsenal winners & losers as Reiss Nelson thunderbolt secures injury-time win over Bournemouth

You just can’t concede a goal like Arsenal did straight from the kick-off, it’s just totally unacceptable.

To allow Bournemouth to just play the ball out to the right unopposed and then swing in a cross and score after nine seconds was criminal.

No-one was switched on, as was evident by the way Gabriel Magalhaes slackly allowed the ball to just roll under his foot and into the path of Billing.

It was a disastrous start, one that looked for a long time that Arsenal would not be able to recover from.

Fortunately for them, they managed to turn things round, but when Mikel Arteta sits them down at the training ground on Monday morning he will be far from happy at the way his side allowed a goal like that to happen.

Nelson has obviously stolen all the headlines because of his match-winning cameo, but Thomas Partey was undoubtedly Arsenal’s star performer on the day.

While several of his team-mates struggled around him, Partey was the one player who consistently pushed the home side forward.

He swept up excellently in midfield, broke up the play and progressed the ball into the attacking areas.

Partey was also the man who started the comeback when he volleyed past Neto from close range to get Arsenal back in the game.

It was an excellent performance from a player Arsenal can ill afford to be without.

After such a nightmare start to the game, the last thing Arsenal needed was an injury just to rub salt into the wounds.

But that’s what happened after just 22 minutes when Leandro Trossard was forced off with what looked like a groin problem.

With Eddie Nketiah having joined Gabriel Jesus on the sidelines, Trossard would have been eyeing up a prolonged spell in the side over the coming weeks.

But now Arsenal’s January signing looks set to be joining his new team-mates in the treatment room.

An substandard showing for the usually dependable Tomiyasu is a very rare occurrence, but he had one today. 

Handed a start by Arteta, the Japan International struggled throughout the first half. 

The link up with Bukayo Saka just wasn’t there, in fact at times it felt like Tomiyasu was getting in the winger’s way. And when he did find some space down the right, his delivery was often wasteful. 

It was no surprise when Tomiyasu failed to reappear for the second half, with Ben White coming on to replace him...

If you were going to pick a time to score your first Arsenal goal, then this was certainly the time to do it.

White initially started the game on the bench but he made a big difference down the right-hand side after being introduced in place of Tomiyasu.

His goal was not an easy finish either, but he took it exceptionally well. 

It was a huge moment, one that White thoroughly deserves having been one of Arsenal's most consistent performers this season.

What a moment!

Only time will tell just how important Nelson’s late goal will be in context of the title race, but the celebrations that followed his stunning left-footed strike will live long in the memory of everyone who was inside Emirates Stadium today.

What it means!!

Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/7gbUtuJnmv

— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) March 4, 2023

It was a truly sensational piece of footballing drama to win a game that had absolutely everything. 

And the fact that it was an Arsenal boy, someone who has come through the academy and spent his whole life at the club, who produced the crucial moment in the final seconds, just adds to the beauty of it all. 

Nelson has been out of the picture for so long now due to the injury he picked up just before Christmas, but he has kept his head down, continued to work hard and today he got his rewards. 

He set up the equaliser for White just seconds after coming on and then scored the goal of his life to earn his team all three points. 

Simply remarkable.