Kai Havertz hit his first Arsenal goal as Mikel Arteta’s side eased to a comfortable victory at Bournemouth.
The Gunners outclassed their hosts to win 4-0 and move to within striking distance of Manchester City – who visit the Emirates Stadium next weekend – but a late injury to Bukayo Saka will worry Arteta.
Havertz has struggled to make an impact since moving across London from Chelsea in the summer but stroked home a second-half penalty, much to the joy of his team-mates and the travelling support inside the Vitality Stadium.
Arsenal were already two goals to the good at that point, Saka breaking the deadlock with his fifth of the season, before Martin Odegaard scored from the spot with a Ben White header wrapping up the win in stoppage time.
Arteta was able to call on a number of players who were injury doubts ahead of the trip to the south coast as William Saliba, Declan Rice and Saka all started despite missing the majority of training leading into the game.
Saka, though, hobbled off for the second game in succession having injured a foot against Tottenham in last weekend’s north London derby draw.
Bournemouth are still without a league win under head coach Andoni Iraola, who very much came off second best in the battle against childhood friend Arteta.
Arsenal were on the front foot from the off as Havertz saw a shot deflected behind off Illia Zabarnyi and behind for a corner.
Saka duly put them ahead soon after, nodding into an empty goal after Gabriel Jesus’ header came back off the post and into the path of the England winger.
Oleksandr Zinchenko stung the palms of Neto with the visitors in search of a second goal, which arrived from the penalty spot after Max Aarons felled Eddie Nketiah.
Saka initially stepped up, only to give the ball to his captain with Odegaard dispatching the spot-kick to widen the gap before the break.
Bournemouth continued to cause their own problems as a poor challenge from Ryan Christie on Odegaard led to Michael Salisbury pointing to the spot for a second time.
Saka, again, collected the ball but this time ceded responsibility to Havertz, without a goal or assist in his first nine Arsenal appearances.
He coolly slotted home before being mobbed by his team-mates as his name rang out from the away section with the points all-but secured.
The only sour note of the afternoon for Arsenal came when Saka hit the deck in pain after a coming together with Milos Kerkez.
He limped on for a couple of minutes before being replaced by Fabio Vieira with Arsenal adding another goal late on through White.
Italy win shows 'true face of the France team', says Rabiot
Adrien Rabiot believes Sunday's win over Italy showed "the true face of the France team" as they secured top spot in Nations League Group A2.
The midfielder headed home twice in their 3-1 victory, meeting excellent deliveries from Lucas Digne on both, with his second goal restoring the all-important two-goal cushion that ensured they finished above the Azzurri in the group.
This comes after France had failed to find a way past Israel in a frustrating 0-0 draw last time out.
However, Sunday's victory ensured France will be seeded in the quarter-finals draw as they seem to have put their disappointing Euro 2024 campaign, in which they won just twice as they struggled in front of goal, behind them.
Les Bleus also avenged the 3-1 defeat to Italy on home soil in the reverse fixture, something Rabiot said was playing on their minds while they prepared for their trip to San Siro.
"It's been a long time since we've played a match like this, that we haven't fought in this way all together, until the end," he told TF1.
"We also had the objective of winning with a two-goal difference, we did it. But frankly, the mutual aid that there was in this match, the combativeness, the team spirit, it's to be highlighted. Frankly, we enjoyed playing this match.
"It was a different context [Thursday]. Above all, there was a revenge to be taken compared to the previous match against Italy, who had come to win at home. It's a great evening. I hope we will continue to show this face. It's the true face of the France team."
Digne officially got two assists in the victory, but he also played a big role in France's other goal – his free-kick rattled the crossbar before bouncing in off the unfortunate Guglielmo Vicario.
In fact, France scored three goals from set-pieces in a match for the first time since 1991, when they netted three times from dead-ball situations against Albania.
"[The free-kick is] a technical gesture that is worked on in training. The more you do, the more automatic it becomes, and it pays off," Digne said.
"Offensively, it's not bad at all. As a defender, I would have preferred to finish with a clean sheet, but we can't have everything. We finished first, it's great.
"We had a revenge to take from the first leg, we wanted to show a completely different face. And in addition to our slightly worse match against Israel... We really wanted to show that this jersey is close to our hearts. The whole group was present. It was really a complete match."
France's Nations League quarter-finals will be played in March.
Israel 1-0 Belgium: Shua late show proves decisive
Relegated Israel stunned Belgium 1-0 in their final Nations League game as Yarden Shua's late goal earned them their first win in the competition this season.
The Red Devils, who were without a number of key players for the tie in Hungary, were masters of their own downfall as they gifted Israel the winner with four minutes left on the clock.
In a cagey first half, Eli Dasa breached Belgium's backline 24 minutes in and beat Koen Casteels with a crisp low effort, only to be denied by the foot of the far post.
Casteels was alert just before the break, getting down low to push Dor Peretz's low drive away from the bottom corner.
Domenico Tedesco's half-time team talk looked to have buoyed his side as they upped the pressure, with Lois Openda hitting the side netting before Johan Bakayoko forced a fingertip save out of Daniel Peretz just after the hour.
However, in their rush to find a winner, Belgium were caught playing out from the back. Dor Peretz latched onto Matte Smets' loose backpass, and though he was bundled over in the box, Shua coolly picked out the bottom corner.
Israel finish bottom of Group A2 and are automatically relegated to League B, while Belgium sit above them due to a superior goal difference in their head-to-head record –they now have a relegation play-off to overcome.
Data Debrief: Tough times for Tedesco
It has been a Nations League campaign to forget for Belgium, who managed just one win and finished with a whimper as they went winless in their final four matches (D1 L3).
They just edged the shot count in Budapest, having 12 attempts to Israel's 10, but without the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne to call on, they lacked a clinical edge.
While Belgium struggled in attack, their defensive struggles will also be a worry for Tedesco. They failed to win any of the four games in which they fell behind in the group, earning just one point from a losing position.
Tottenham's Odobert undergoes hamstring surgery
Tottenham have confirmed that Wilson Odobert has undergone surgery for a hamstring injury.
The 19-year-old joined Spurs from Burnley in August and made five appearances in all competitions for the north London side.
He managed just 162 minutes in his three Premier League matches, creating three chances in that time, but has not featured in the competition since their 1-0 loss to Arsenal in mid-September.
His last appearance was a two-minute cameo in the Europa League group stage amid ongoing hamstring problems.
"We can confirm that Wilson Odobert underwent surgery to his right hamstring yesterday (Saturday 16th November)," Spurs said on social media.
"The 19-year-old will continue to be closely monitored by our medical team to determine when he can return to training."
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