AFC BOURNEMOUTH boss Andoni Iraola admitted that his side were forced to defend low in the first half of his side’s defeat at league leaders Arsenal, stating: “Sometimes you have to play the game that the opposition makes you play”.

Cherries could have no complaints over the result at the Emirates but took umbrage with the scoreline, Arsenal winning 3-0 after a controversial penalty and an even more egregious decision to rule out at an Antoine Semenyo goal.

Before Saka was given the opportunity to open scores from the spot, Cherries had just about withstood the barrage of Arsenal pressure on their goal.

In the second half Cherries were able to consistently get on the ball and up the pitch, taking the game to Arsenal.

Asked if the low block that Cherries operated in for much of the first half had been the gameplan, Iraola told the Daily Echo: “No, it wasn't.

“Sometimes you have to play the game that the opposition makes you play, because you are not able to perform as well as we wanted.

“We were not attacking very well the spaces, we were defending very low.

“We wanted to play safer.

“And normally when we try to play safer, we are our worst team.

“And second half we were much more brave.

“Our line was much higher.

“We could concede more space obviously, but I like much more the performance of the second half and it was more close to what we have done in the season.”

At the time of writing Cherries are 10th in the Premier League table with two games remaining.

Their next game is their final home match of the campaign, welcoming Thomas Frank’s Bees to Vitality Stadium next Saturday, May 11.

After hosting Brentford, a trip to fellow midtable outfit Chelsea rounds off the campaign on Sunday, May 19.