A fine late surge helped Arsenal get away with a point against Bournemouth in a game of two halves at the Vitality Stadium. From being 0-3 after 58 minutes, Alexis Sanchez, Lucas Perez and Olivier Giroud found the net in the last 20 minutes of the game to bring the game level to 3-3.

There was late drama at Selhurst Park too as Swansea City’s new manager Paul Clement enjoyed a winning start. The Swans found an unlikely hero in full-back Angel Rangel, who beat the offside trap to land the winner.

Stoke City breathed easy with a comfortable 2-0 win against Watford at the Britannia Stadium with goals from skipper Ryan Shawcross and Peter Crouch. The Potters had lost three and drawn two in their last five fixtures.

Bournemouth blow away huge lead

Arsenal were all at sea in the first half of the game and found themselves trailing 0-2 after 20 minutes. Charlie Daniels left right-back Hector Bellerin flat-footed and smashed the ball into the net with a cracking shot. Minutes later a clumsy push from Granit Xhaka helped Bournemouth double their lead through Callum Wilson’s spot kick.

Bellerin’s woes continued in the second half too as he was easily bullied off the ball from Ryan Fraser, who then ran towards Arsenal keeper Petr Cech and bundled the ball over make it 3-0 for his side.

Bournemouth were in dreamland and were running rings around the Arsenal backline. With 70 minutes gone, Arsene Wenger’s side created a chance out of thin air, and Sanchez headed headed in from Giroud’s flick-on from what was their first chance in the game.

Giroud’s influence was crucial during the buildup to Arsenal’s second goal too, as his slick chip over the top was thumped into the net by Perez’s cracking volley.

Dan Gosling missed a glorious chance to restore his side’s two-goal cushion. Bournemouth were down to 10 men for the last eight minutes of the game with Simon Francis seeing red for a two-footed tackle on Aaron Ramsey. Giroud followed up his scorpion kick goal over the weekend with a timely header in stoppage time from a deadly cross from Xhaka.

Clement’s dream start

Former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich assistant manager Clement got off to a dream start to his managerial career with a hard fought 2-1 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Alfie Mawson gave Swansea the lead as the Palace defence momentarily lost concentration. There was terrific intensity from both teams. It took an outstanding effort from Wilfred Zaha 12 minutes from time to help the home side get back on level terms. Zaha’s brilliant strike was not enough to the rot for his side as Rangel showed great commitment to latch on to a gorgeous lob from Leroy Fer, and help Swansea snatch their lead back.

Predictably, a chorus of boos echoed from the home fans at the end of the game. Manager Sam Allardyce has only managed to pick up one point from his first three games. Meanwhile, Swansea moved from from the bottom to take the 17th spot in the table.

Brief scores

  • Bournemouth 3 (Charlie Daniels, Callum Wilson, Ryan Fraser) draw with Arsenal 3 (Alexis Sanchez, Lucas Perez, Olivier Giroud)
  • Crystal Palace 1 (Wilfred Zaha) lose to Swansea City 2 (Alfie Mawson, Angel Rangel)
  • Stoke City 2 (Ryan Shawcross, Peter Crouch) beat Watford 0