ANDONI Iraola explained his thoughts on why Arsenal have been so impressive this season “in comparison to other big clubs”, as he looks to take down the league leaders with Cherries.

Iraola faces fellow Basque boss Mikel Arteta at Emirates Stadium tomorrow (12.30pm), the Gunners knowing any dropped points would be a crushing blow to their Premier League title bid.

Asked what he feels has made Arsenal so good this season, the north London outfit having scored the most and conceded the least amount of goals in the league, Cherries head coach Iraola said: “A lot of things that they do very well.

“But I would say especially they are elite level football players, but their work-rate, their discipline, sense of collectiveness is like if they were not elite level.

“They have this humbleness to do all the stuff without the ball, recovery runs, and that makes them very difficult to beat.

“They don’t concede chances, they don’t concede goals.

“They are the team in the league conceding by far the least everything – less corners, less goals, less chances and I think this is because they have a very good work-rate.

“Probably in comparison to other big clubs, that also have very, very good players. But I think they are playing really well.”

Cherries, who were soundly beaten 4-0 by the Gunners at Vitality Stadium back in September, have lost on all seven of their previous trips to Arsenal.

Quizzed on how realistic it is Cherries can end that poor record this weekend, Iraola said: “There is always a belief.

“We know the narrative involved in the game.

“Probably we will again be quite thin, numbers wise, because we have some important players out.

“But I think we are also in a good place.

“We want to finish strong and knowing all the numbers they have, all the games they have beaten us, even the game we played against them when they beat us really easily 4-0. It was probably the game where we felt furthest from the opposition.

“But I think we are stronger now. I think we have improved and I hope we can give them a good game.”

Most of the build-up ahead of the fixture has revolved around Arsenal, seeking their first Premier League title in 20 years, currently one points ahead of reigning champions Manchester City.

“It is normal, because they are the ones fighting for the title,” said Iraola.

“The same way they are talking about Man City.

“But we just want to go there, play well and try to win the game.

“It is not because we want Arsenal or Man City to win, we don’t care.

“We want Bournemouth to get the most points we can and that is our mentality tomorrow.”