By Jason Lewis (@_JasonLewis)
A spirited Bournemouth performance came up short against Arsenal after a brace from Alexis Sanchez and another controversial refereeing display.
The Chilean forward opened the scoring at the Emirates after an error from Steve Cook. Bournemouth quickly got back into the game as Callum Wilson scored from the penalty spot.
Arsenal restored their lead after the break through the head of Theo Walcott. Bournemouth were denied what seemed a clear second penalty for a handball, before a flowing counter from Arsenal ended with Sanchez tapping home in the closing minutes of the game.
Eddie Howe was forced to shuffle the pack with loanee Jack Wilshere unavailable to play against his parent club. The game came too soon for both Artur Boruc and Andrew Surman, whilst Charlie Daniels dropped out of the side that won at Stoke. Adam Smith came back into the side, but in a rare right midfield berth, whilst his namesake, Brad, made his first league start filling in for Daniels.
The Cherries made a steady start to the game, although both Steve Cook and captain Simon Francis were shown yellow cards for almost identical slide challenges in front of the travelling supporters.
Just as Bournemouth began to grow into the game they found themselves behind through a gift of a goal for Arsenal. Federici rolled the ball to Cook whose attempted pass back to the Australian was always coming up short. The energetic Sanchez leaped on the opportunity and calmly slotted the ball past the onrushing Federici.
Despite the setback, Howe’s side showed courage to continue with their philosophy of playing out from the back.  They soon got their reward and were back on level terms from the penalty spot.
After a spell of possession, the ball was played into the box and a clumsy attempt to get the ball off of Wilson by Nacho Monreal saw referee Michael Jones point to the spot.
Wilson stepped up to take the penalty and calmly stroked it to Petr Cech’s right as the experienced goalkeeper dived to the opposite corner.
The goal rattled Arsenal and Bournemouth had a great chance to steal the lead. Adam Smith found himself in the middle of the penalty box with the goal at his mercy, but he was unable to guide his header on target.
The Gunners ended the half the better side with the majority of possession, but did not force Federici into any save of note. A snap shot from Sanchez flew just over the crossbar.
The last chance before the interval fell to Theo Walcott. He received the ball after a trademark eye of a needle ball from Mesut Ozil. The former Southampton man was unable to compose himself and his shot cannoned off of the crossbar with the hint of a touch from Federici.
The Cherries struggled to get on the ball from the start of the second half and were soon trailing once again.
A cross from the Arsenal right made its way to Monreal who found himself in room to the left of the goal. The Spaniard caressed the ball back across the box. Walcott found himself in acres of space just six yards out and duly headed home.
Much like the first goal, Howe’s side gave a great response to the setback after coping with short stint of Arsenal pressure.
With less than 20 minutes left in the game Bournemouth felt aggrieved as Jones waved away their protests for another penalty. For a second week in succession Howe will be expecting an apology from the referee after the ball clearly struck the arm of Monreal.
Harry Arter was cautioned for his protests and will now miss the visit of Liverpool to Dean Court next weekend.
Bournemouth continued to press without really testing Cech in the Arsenal goal. Substitute Benik Afobe, returning to Arsenal where he spent his youth career, saw his instinctive shot on the rebound blocked by Cech.
As the Cherries continued to go in search of an equaliser they were left short of numbers at the back. Arsenal eventually made use of this and put the game to bed in added time with a textbook move on the counter.
Regular substitute Olivier Giroud received the ball on halfway and fed it wide to Ozil. The German beat his man before slipping the ball back through to Giroud who then played in a low cross for Alexis Sanchez to tap in from a couple of yards out.
A committed and determined performance from Bournemouth gave Arsenal plenty to think about and pushed them out of the second gear that proved to be more than enough last season.
Going forward the Cherries need to cut out the errors like the one that gifted the first goal, but without Boruc, Daniels, Surman and of course the creative diamond of Wilshere, Howe will take the positives going forward to the Liverpool game next week at home, where his side have been much stronger this term.
Arsenal: Cech; Debuchy (Gabriel 16), Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Elneny, Xhaka; Walcott (Giroud 76), Ozil Oxlade-Chamberlain, (Ramsey 76); Sanchez
Unused Substitutes: Gibbs, Ospina, Iwobi, Coquelin
AFC Bournemouth: Federici; Francis, Cook Ake, B. Smith (Mousset 81); A. Smith, Gosling, Arter, Stanislas, (Ibe 71); King, Wilson (Afobe 63)
Unused Substitutes: Pugh, Allsop, Fraser, Mings