Burnley 0-2 Arsenal: Gallant Clarets beaten at home by champions elect

Scott Parker’s side were outclassed during the first-half, where both of Arsenal’s goals arrived - from Viktor Gyokeres and Declan Rice respectively.

The Clarets had actually started the game in a promising manner, but were undone by yet another Arsenal corner. From that point onwards, the visitors never looked back and simply overpowered the hosts, who didn’t even produce an attempt on goal until the 71st minute.

The home side did take the game to the Gunners in the second half and could easily have made for an interesting end to the game when Florentino Luis headed narrowly over.

But in truth, Burnley had been well beaten by the best side in the division, an Arsenal side that sit seven points clear at the top of the table and appear destined for their first title since 2004.

Results elsewhere meant the damage was fairly limited, with Leeds United and bottom side Wolves both losing and Nottingham Forest drawing 2-2 with Manchester United, leaving the Clarets four points clear of the bottom three.

Despite winning back-to-back games, Parker opted to revert to the back five as Josh Laurent came in for Jacob Bruun Larsen, as the only change from last week’s victory at Wolves.

Laurent slotted into the back three alongside Axel Tuanzebe and Maxime Esteve, while Zian Flemming kept his place up top after his brace against Wolves, where he was supported by Jaidon Anthony.

Florentino Luis, Josh Cullen and Lesley Ugochukwu made up a midfield three.

There was a surprise absence on the bench, as Lyle Foster missed out despite making a scoring return from a dead leg last week. Ashley Barnes took his place.

Jordan Beyer, Connor Roberts and Zeki Amdouni all remain sidelined.

As for Arsenal, they named an unchanged side from last weekend’s 1-0 league win against When Burnley played their back five against reigning champions Liverpool, it was a low block where, for much of the game, they were camped on the edge of their 18-yard box.

But that wasn’t the case here, certainly not early on anyway, with the Clarets keeping a far higher line and looking to pressure the Arsenal players as soon as they took a touch to settle themselves.

The home faithful were buoyed by their side’s start to the game, with Burnley a lot more willing to go after the league leaders, albeit picking their moments when to do so.

But such is Arsenal’s artillery from set pieces, all they needed was one corner to take an early lead having offered no threat whatsoever up to that point.

In the 14th minute, Declan Rice’s delivery was worked back across the face of goal and into the six-yard box for Viktor Gyokeres to nod home unopposed. It was the eighth corner the Gunners have scored from this season in just 10 games.

Burnley fans were frustrated with the awarding of the corner to begin with, as Leandro Trossard’s forward pass took the slightest of deflections off Kyle Walker to take the ball just beyond the ball-line, despite Martin Dubravka’s best efforts.

Five minutes later, Turf Moor held its breath as Josh Laurent conceded another corner, but this time Jurrien Timber flicked his header over the bar from inside that crowded six-yard box.

The hosts were hanging on at this point, as Bukayo Saka got in behind only to produce a weak finish, allowing Dubravka to make a relatively comfortable save.

The Slovakian made a far more impressive one-handed stop to deny Saka just after the half-hour mark, before Leandro Trossard’s shot on the follow-up was cleared off the line by Quilindschy Hartman.

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When they’re not scoring from their own set-pieces, Arsenal manage to even notch from opposition ones. Ten minutes before the interval, the visitors doubled their lead through Declan Rice.

It came after Kyle Walker’s long throw was easily dealt with by Saliba. The Gunners immediately broke, Gyokeres picking out Trossard who then delivered a pinpoint cross for the unmarked Rice to head home.

The start to the second-half was a fairly uneventful one, although Zian Flemming did pick up a booking for a late one on Gabriel while Dubravka made a relatively comfortable save to deny Trossard at his near post.

The Clarets did finally begin to take the game to Arsenal as the second-half wore on, although they were still finding it difficult to create anything of note.

Jacob Bruun Larsen and Loum Tchaouna arrived off the bench, as Burnley opted to go slightly more attacking. But Arsenal seemed to have an answer for everything they did.

In the 71st minute, the Clarets finally produced their first attempt on goal as Zian Flemming directed a fairly weak header towards goal.

But two minutes later, they ought to have halved the deficit when Florentino Luis could only head over at full stretch after Maxime Esteve had nodded Axel Tuanzebe’s long free-kick forwards towards the back post.

The Clarets bravely fought until the very end as they sought to make for an interesting final few minutes, but Arsenal kept them at bay to keep a seventh straight clean sheet.

The visitors were denied a third in stoppage-time, when Dubravka produced a strong hand to push Christian Norgaard’s outswinging effort away from goal.

The last kick of the game came from Burnley as substitute Marcus Edwards hit the post with a 25-yard free-kick.

TEAMS

Burnley: Dubravka, Walker, Laurent (Hannibal), Tuanzebe, Esteve, Hartman, Florentino, Cullen, Ugochukwu (Bruun Larsen), Anthony (Tchaouna), Flemming (Broja)

Subs not used: Weiss, Ekdal, Pires, Edwards, Barnes

Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori (Hincapie), Rice, Zubimendi (Norgaard), Eze (Nwaneri), Saka, Trossard (Lewis-Skelly), Gyokeres (Merino)

Subs not used: Kepa, Mosquera, White, Dowman

Referee: Chris Kavanagh

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