Rice double at Bournemouth puts Arsenal six points clear

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BOURNEMOUTH, England, Jan 3 - Declan Rice scored twice as Arsenal shrugged off a poor start to beat Bournemouth 3-2 away and open up a commanding six-point lead at the top of the Premier League on Saturday.

Rice, back after missing the 4-1 defeat of Aston Villa because of injury, slotted a shot past Dorde Petrovic early in the second half to put Arsenal in front and found the net again after being set up by substitute Bukayo Saka.

Bournemouth were gifted the lead in the 10th minute when Arsenals usually impeccable defender Gabriel passed straight to home striker Evanilson who finished with ease.

But Gabriel soon made amends for his rare error as he fired in an equaliser six minutes later.

Arsenal appeared to be cruising after Rices double but substitute Junior Kroupi smashed a shot past David Raya to set up an anxious finale for the visitors.

Mikel Artetas side hung on for a fifth successive victory to pile the pressure on Manchester City who will hope to cut the deficit to four points by beating Chelsea on Sunday.

Arsenal have 48 points from 20 games with Aston Villa on 42 and City, who have played a game less, on 41. REUTERS