Arsenal show growing maturity in win over Burnley

LONDON — After the draw against Tottenham in late September, Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta suggested his team had conceded too many goals at home and got carried away by the emotion of the Emirates crowd.

His words were clearly heard by his young team and despite conceding their first home goal since September 24, Arsenal showed their growing maturity to bounce back quickly from Josh Brownhill’s equalizer on Saturday and maintain their title fight.

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Before this match, Arsenal were unbeaten in 37 home league matches against newly promoted opposition – a run stretching back to 2010 – so Vincent Kompany’s struggling Burnley side was perhaps unlikely to pose too many problems to Arteta’s team here. And it ultimately proved true as goals from Leandro Trossard, William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko gave Arsenal a crushing 3-1 victory.

The problem for Arteta this season remains the same, with Kai Havertz’s indecision in possession continuing to look out of place alongside his teammates’ sharp movements. It is no coincidence that he was absent during the preparation which led to Trossard’s opening score. It also seemed significant that Arteta took the opportunity to quietly remove Havertz from proceedings as the home fans celebrated Saliba’s 57th-minute goal.

However, Havertz’s replacement didn’t fare much better, with Fabio Vieira receiving a straight red card for scraping his studs on Brownhill’s knee as the two players contested a loose ball in the closing stages of the match. Bukayo Saka, who was fit enough to play despite limping in midweek, was exceptional in stretching and probing Burnley’s backline. Arteta never misses an opportunity to pick out Saka but he was back to his best after enduring the first difficult period of his fledgling career in recent weeks.

Arsenal are a slightly different beast so far this season, with Arteta choosing to exert more control over matches instead of unleashing his team on the opposition in the thrilling style that proved so successful last season. The arrival of Declan Rice was key to this change in style and he showed his worth when Arsenal went down to 10 men as he marshaled the Arsenal midfield alongside the experienced Jorginho for minutes remaining after Vieira’s red card.

“Really happy with the result but especially with the performance after playing 72 hours in the last three games,” Arteta said.

“How we played against Newcastle, how we played against Sevilla, how we played today, how dominant we were against the teams. It’s very difficult to dominate the number of situations we generated. I think we fully decided to win the game.

Goalkeeping loyalty is a hot topic in this corner of north London, but it’s not just Arteta whose preference for a certain shooter has been questioned in recent times. James Trafford’s performances since arriving at Burnley in a £19million deal last summer have led to calls for former number 1 Aro Muric to be reinstated between the posts. Kompany team.

Trafford, however, made their case with an outstanding reflex save midway through the first half to deny Saka after the Arsenal winger found a yard of space in the penalty area. Kompany’s tactics and dedication to playing football his way in Burnley’s first season in the Premier League were described as naive by outsiders, but they were much more compact at the Emirates with two defenders doubling Saka and Gabriel Martinelli each once they had the ball. wide positions.

Arsenal’s problems were exacerbated by the fact that Burnley’s tactics continually left Havertz as a reserve man whenever they moved forward. The Germany international always found a way to dampen Arsenal’s surges on the pitch, most blatantly when he wasted a three-on-two counter-attack in his team’s favor with a weak pass to Trossard who stopped all momentum. Judging by the howls of derision from the home crowd, it’s fair to say that Arsenal fans’ patience with their new striker is wearing thin.

But Burnley’s resistance was finally broken as half-time approached when Trossard bravely sent the ball over the line to score Arsenal’s 1,000th goal at the Emirates since opening in 2006. His commitment to the cause was highlighted by his violent collision with the post. scoring after Saka headed Zinchenko’s cross invitingly across the goal.

Burnley got back on level terms after the dangerous Luca Koleosho got the better of Takehiro Tomiyasu in the Arsenal box, with the Burnley winger’s cutback eventually falling to Brownhill who saw his shot deflect into David’s goal Raya. Arsenal hit back three minutes later when Saliba rose highest in the box to head Trossard’s corner from a few yards out. Zinchenko took the game beyond Burnley with his best impression of Paulo Di Canio’s iconic goal for West Ham against Wimbledon in 2000 as Burnley were again defeated by a free-kick.

Despite their numerical advantage in the closing stages of the match, a late comeback from the away team seemed unlikely to occur. No team in the division has scored fewer goals than Burnley’s nine. The absence of top scorer Lyle Foster, who was sent to specialists after a recurrence of a mental health problem, is a loss for Kompany.

“In this kind of match you always say you need a bit of luck and it’s a shame because that moment seemed like a red card to me in the last 10 minutes,” Kompany said.

“Sometimes it’s enough if you’re down 2-1 or 1-1… All of a sudden there’s a little extra to this game. You have to be perfect in everything you’re going to do and we were perfect in most cases. things, but obviously set plays are a big part of it and today it cost us against a very good team. The first promotion… It’s pretty unforgiving.

As former protégés of the Premier League’s main antagonist and patriarch, Pep Guardiola, Arteta and Kompany will certainly be among the candidates for what is currently the top job in English football once the Manchester City manager takes over. chose to withdraw.

Kompany, prowling the Emirates touchline here in his Kendall Roy-style ‘quiet luxury’ winter coat and baseball cap combo, was the next man having transformed Burnley into a modern attacking force and dynamic who won the championship with ease last season. Kompany’s status like that of Guardiola ‘number one boy’ This was evident in March when the City manager said it was “written in the stars” that the former club captain would one day be offered the coaching job.

But Burnley’s recent struggles have faded Kompany’s star and his contemporaries, like Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi, now feel the warm glow of Guardiola’s affection. Arteta spent three years as Guardiola’s assistant at City and looked destined to succeed him before opting to take over at Arsenal in 2019 – a move Guardiola alluded to as having been born out of impatience among his compatriots .

Indeed, as Arsenal continue to challenge City at the top of the table, Arteta is unlikely to be tempted by an offer from his former employers. Based on the evidence of the last 18 months, he is trying to create his own dynasty.