Arsenal 3-1 Burnley (11 Nov, 2023) Game Analysis

Arsenal handed Burnley a sixth consecutive defeat in all competitions with a 3-1 home win on Saturday to move up to second place in the Premier League table.

Goals from Leandro Trossard, William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko gave Arsenal victory, but their afternoon ended on a sour note when Fabio Vieira was sent off.

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Arsenal moved to 29 points in the table, level with leaders Manchester City and one point above north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who lost 2-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers early in the kick-off.

“Really happy with the result, especially the performance… How dominant we were against a very difficult team to dominate,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told reporters.

“Given the number of situations we generated, I think we fully deserved to win the match.”

Burnley’s crisis has deepened as they sit in 19th place on four points after their 10th defeat in 12 games.

Vincent Kompany named an unchanged Burnley side for the first time this season and they did well to keep Arsenal at bay even as Mikel Arteta’s side dominated possession and piled on the pressure in search of a breakthrough.

The London side inevitably scored just before half-time when Bukayo Saka headed the ball across the penalty area and Trossard leapt into the air to head home Arsenal’s 1,000th goal at the Emirates Stadium.

However, the celebrations were muted when the courageous Belgian settled on the post and grimaced in pain as he held his arm. But he returned to the field after medical treatment and also returned in the second half.

Burnley equalized against the run of play in the second half when a blocked shot fell to Josh Brownhill and the skipper’s effort was deflected to beat a helpless David Raya in the Arsenal goal.

However, the scores were level for just two minutes, as Arsenal won a corner and Trossard’s dangerous delivery found Saliba, who nodded in from a yard out.

Zinchenko made it 3-1 with an improvised volley after Burnley failed to clear a corner.

“Don’t take anything away, we played a fantastic team. The way Mikel makes the team work is exceptional,” Kompany said.

“To achieve our performance we rely on other factors like luck or individual moments, but on the two set pieces this was not the case.”

Vieira saw red for a high boot when he caught Brownhill on the knee, but Arteta had no problem with the decision after criticizing the officials following his side’s 1-0 defeat at Newcastle United.

“It’s a tough spot to get to. We defended really well for most of the game. The timing of the first goal is killing us,” Brownhill said.

“When we equalize in the second half, you don’t want to concede straight away. They were stupid goals for us.”