Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil insists his players never relaxed during their defeat to Arsenal on Saturday.
Philip Billing’s opener straight from kick-off gave Cherries the lead, before the away side doubled their advantage through Marcos Senesi on 56 minutes.
Six minutes later Arsenal were back in the game via Thomas Partey, before Poole-born Ben White equalized on 70 minutes.
The resurgent Gunners completed the comeback on 97 minutes, Reiss Nelson volleying home from the edge of the area to break Cherries’ hearts.
Asked if he thought at any point his side had won the contest with their comfortable lead, O’Neil told the Daily Echo: “No.
“Arsenal were going to come back, they were going to throw everything at it while it’s 2-0.
“When it’s 2-0, you feel ‘okay, if we can hold them at bay’.
“From the very first minute of the game, you expect Arsenal to cause you problems, create chances.
“That’s what happened. So at no moment did I feel like, ‘yeah, we’re going to win this today’.
“I just felt like ‘come on boys. Next action. Let’s go. Need to see it, another one’s coming again.’
“I mean, when you’d seen out six of six minutes and you had one last corner to defend, you hope you leave with a point, but we don’t.”