Scotland mainstay snaps two-year wait for top-flight goal as talisman makes welcome return

Christie came on as a 63rd-minute substitute and within seven minutes, the 29-year-old opened the scoring, latching on to a neat Justin Kluivert flick from a well-worked corner and sending the ball high past Gunners keeper David Raya.

Kluivert netted a penalty not long after as Arsenal fell to their first EPL defeat of the season - although their cause was not helped by a first-half red card for key defender William Saliba.

Despite having netted for Scotland and in the FA and League Cups for Bournemouth in the past year, you have to go back to October 10, 2022 for when Christie last found the net in England’s top flight. He scored the winner for the south-coast side in the 2-1 home win over Leicester City.

Elsewhere in the EPL, key Scotland midfielder John McGinn made his return from a hamstring injury for Aston Villa.

The ex-Hibs man, who turned 30 last week, missed out on Scotland’s recent double-header against Croatia and Portugal due to the muscle strain, but the Villa captain came on as a late substitute during the 3-1 win at Fulham to mark his return.

There was also good news for Nathan Patterson, the Scotland right-back who has been sidelined for months due to a hamstring tear. The 23-year-old was on the bench for Everton as they won 2-0 at Ipswich. The former Rangers defender has not played competitively since mid-April and missed last summer’s European Championships.

Scotland captain Andy Robertson played the whole 90 minutes for Liverpool as they won 2-1 at home to Chelsea on Sunday to go top of the Premier League.

It was not such a good weekend, though, for another Scot in Ryan Fraser. The winger was sent off for Southampton during their 3-2 defeat by Leicester City after he denied Jamie Vardy a clear goalscoring opportunity. The 30-year-old had only been on the pitch for 12 minutes as Saints chucked away a 2-0 lead at St Mary’s.