Premier League: Before PSG clash, Arsenal suffer blow at the hands of Bournemouth; Villa boost top-five hopes
Arsenal faced a setback before their Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain as Bournemouth secured their first-ever away victory against them with a 2-1 win, while Aston Villa strengthened their top five aspirations by defeating Fulham 1-0 on Saturday, May 4, 2025, in London.
Arsenal initially took control when Declan Rice scored in the first half during his 100th appearance for the club.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!
The lead was short-lived as Dean Huijsen equalised, followed by Evanilson’s winning goal for Bournemouth.
The defeat comes at a crucial time for Arsenal, who are already trailing 1-0 to PSG in their Champions League semi-final first leg and face the return leg in Paris on Wednesday.
Arsenal, currently in second place, need six more points to secure Champions League qualification through a top-five Premier League finish.
The London club has finished as runners-up to Manchester City in the previous two seasons and now sees the Champions League as their only remaining chance for silverware this term.
Arsenal’s last Champions League final appearance was in 2006, and they have never won the competition.
“We should have put the game to bed. We defended really poorly, nowhere near the standards that we are used to. We wanted to generate the momentum and a really positive vibe today and we haven’t. What we have created is frustration, rage and anger. Make sure we use that on Wednesday,” said Arteta.
At Villa Park, Unai Emery’s team continued their impressive home form as Youri Tielemans’ header in the 12th minute secured victory against Fulham.
Villa, now in seventh place, extended their unbeaten home streak to 20 games across all competitions, drawing level on 60 points with sixth-placed Nottingham Forest and fifth-placed Chelsea.
“If we weren’t winning today, forget it completely. Today, we got more or less to be close to Europe. Wow, fantastic, brilliant. The best gift we can achieve after it is the Europa League or Champions League. We will fight for it, Europe, and hopefully we can fight for the Champions League,” said Emery.
In other matches, Southampton‘s struggles continued as they lost 2-0 to Leicester at the King Power Stadium, risking equaling Derby’s record-low Premier League points total.
Jamie Vardy, who recently announced his departure from Leicester, scored his 199th goal for the club in the 17th minute.
The match saw an unusual delay when referee David Webb suffered a head injury after colliding with Leicester’s Jordan Ayew, with Vardy playfully blowing the referee’s whistle during the treatment break.
Ayew later scored Leicester’s second goal before halftime, securing their first victory since January.
Southampton, having lost 28 of 35 league games, have three matches remaining to avoid sharing Derby’s record-low 11-point total from 2007-08.
In the day’s other fixture, relegated Ipswich showed resilience by coming back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Everton.
Everton had taken a commanding lead through Beto and Dwight McNeil’s goals, but Julio Enciso’s long-range strike and George Hirst’s late equaliser secured a point for Ipswich.
The match marked Everton’s penultimate game at Goodison Park, with their final match at the historic venue scheduled against Southampton on May 18 before moving to their new Bramley-Moore Dock stadium next season.
