Arsenal secured their second win of the campaign on Saturday afternoon after a superbly taken free kick by summer returnee, Martin Odegaard proved the only difference between them and their hosts, Burnley.
While Sean Dyche made no change to his team that lost 3-1 to Everton last week to, Mikel Arteta also continued with Aaron Ramsdale in goal and brought in Emile Smith Rowe and Thomas Partey for Albert Sambi Lokonga and Ainsley Maitland-Niles in midfield.
The visitors got off to a bright start and almost capped it with a goal in the 6th minute when Odegaard released Kieran Tierney on the flank, whose cross across goal was latched onto by Nicolas Pepe. His effort was saved by the boot of Nick Pope. He followed up the rebound but couldn't guide it on target.
Burnley got a chance of their own four minutes later. Chris Wood played one over the Arsenal defence onto the path of Ashley Barnes, who could only fire his effort over the bar.
The hosts almost made Arsenal pay for a slip up in the 14th minute when Josh Brownhill won the ball and released a cross into the middle which wass attacked by Barnes, who could have taken his time, but rushed his header and well over the goal.
The visitors finally broke the deadlock with about 15 minutes of the first half to go. Bukayo Saka made a driving run through the middle and was almost making his way into the Burnley box when he was clipped by Ashley Westwood. Odegaard stepped over the resulting free kick to guide a curler above the wall and beyond Pope to score his first away goal for Arsenal.
Arsenal should have doubled their lead just before the half time whistle. Pepe turning the Burnley defence, before releasing Smith Rowe, whose shot was just over the ball.
Both teams came fired up after the interval. Gabriel Maghaeles blocking off a shot from Johann Gudmunsson, before Westwood fired a lame shot straight at Ramsdale.
Another goalscoring opportunity presented itself to Arsenal in the 53rd minute, one they should have taken. Another fine run from Saka released Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, who found Smith Rowe, but the English youth international couldn't manage to find the target.
Substitute, Maxwell Cornet almost made an instant impact moments after coming on, as he pounced onto a clearance from the Arsenal defence and released a dipping shot which was tipped over the bar by Ramsdale.
Burnley finally found a breakthrough in the 68th minute, when Ben White made a sloppy back pass to Ramsdale, which was capitalized on by Matej Vydra, who was brought down by the goalkeeper. Referee Martin Taylor did not hesitate to point to the spot, however, VAR review showed that Ramsdale got the ball and Vydra fell under his own momentum.
Despite mounting ceaseless pressure on Arsenal in the closing stages, the Clarets failed punish their opponents, who squandered chances to have put the game to bed. It was Arsenal's first win against Sean Dyche's men in their last four meetings.
Concluding Thoughts
Arsenal have won their last two matches by a lone goal each, which still begs for questions on their ability in the final third, given the quality of the two sides they've won against, Norwich City and Burnley.
Another impressive outing for Ramsdale and most importantly, keeping a clean sheet and avoiding a penalty with that well-timed tackle on Vydra.
While reasons for Arteta dropping Bernd Leno are yet to be manifest, it looks like the German has got a stiff competition in his English teammate.
The headache for Sean Dyche continues as his team are now winless in their last 13 League games at home and haven't kept a clean sheet in their last eight games, scoring just three times.
Comments