Arsenal: Ospina, Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud
Subs: Szczesny, Gibbs, Chambers, Flamini, Rosicky, Walcott, Welbeck
—
Arsenal moved to within 4 points of Chelsea with a 1-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor this evening.
After the fine display against Liverpool, Arsene Wenger named an unchanged side as the Gunners looked for their 8th league win in a row.
The most dangerous moment of the early stages came from the home side when Vokes got down their left and into the box only to see David Ospina come out and smother. Almost immediately Alexis Sanchez fired over from close range after the ball fell to him in the area following good build-up play involving Ozil and the Chilean.
The first goal of the game arrived in the 12th minute after a period of Arsenal pressure. Alexis had a shot blocked, it fell to Ozil whose follow up was saved. Then Cazorla’s rebound was blocked, it fell to Ramsey who lashed the ball into the roof of the net. 0-1.
Burnley had a free kick just outside the D after a foul by Francis Coquelin but could only hit the wall, but forced a save from Ospina from a similar situation a few minutes later. At the other end a Santi Cazorla free kick curled just wide of the top corner with keeper Heaton scrambling to get across.
Sean Dyche’s side picked up two quick yellow cards with Mee and Duff going into referee Mike Dean’s book, and every time the home side were penalised for obvious fouls the home fans howled with dismay and disgust, unable to believe that one of their chaps would be so uncouth as to break the laws of the game in an way.
As a game of football it wasn’t up to much, with neither keeper particularly troubled, and the match punctuated by free kick after free kick due to Burnley’s continual fouling. Arsenal took the one goal lead into the break.
The home side started the second period brightly, a snapshot from a corner by Ashley Barnes required Ospina to be alert, and their pressing game made it difficult for Arsenal to make any progress when in possession.
An Ozil flick set up Alexis to shoot low but Heaton was equal to it, and a decent move saw a Ramsey shot blocked. Bellerin’s 64th minute cross was deflected just wide of his own post by Trippier, but it continued to be pretty unappetising fare overall.
Burnley spurned a good chance to equalise in the 69th minute. Bellerin got nutmegged, Mee crossed it, it fell for Boyd at the back post but he kicked fresh air when he should, at least, have tested Ospina. Danny Ings overhead effort deflected towards goal but the Colombian stopper plucked it out of the air, before Arsenal upped a bit and put some pressure on at the other end.
Arsene Wenger made his first change of the game in the 81st minute when Danny Welbeck replaced Olivier Giroud. The England man was involved a few minutes later when he was put through by Ozil. The pass wasn’t great, and his follow up shot deflected wide for a corner.
Bellerin was played in by Alexis but saw his shot blocked, and at the Arsenal end Ings almost found his way through a clutch of defenders as the game went into injury time.
Calum Chambers came on in injury time to waste some time, but in the end a soporific game came to a close and Arsenal took three Premier League points for the eighth consecutive game.
Life ain’t that hard when the Arsenal are winning at the weekends…. I also believe we have the best ‘CDM’ in world football at the moment in Francis Coquelin.
Big respect to Mr. Andrew Blogs too for this fuckin’ excellent site. It’s easy to come on here (everyday as I do) and take it for granted, so i’d like to commend him on his great work and long may it continue.
Lemmie also commend him on how fast the arsecast files download,and also the great content of the arsecasts.
Don’t go overboard…coq is in great form, but please don’t overdo it.
Did you listen to the ArseAmerica podcast this week by any chance?
Monreal was immense
Ballerina had a stormer. He got nutmegged once, but too his credit got his chin up and carried on. Both full backs and Coquelin were good. Slightly annoying habit our centre halfs have and Coq picked it up too. We’re playing it backwards a lot. Whats the point of having all those world class players up front if the ball isn’t supplied to them when it can be. Maybe I’m wrong here, but I think the tempo that the two at the back set, is what dictates our style overall. Today we only scored one goal because we’re still not… Read more »
Your auto correct is doing your popularity no favors
Your grammar and spelling are truly awful.
Coquelin is fucking beast
How I use to react at the beginning of the season
https://youtu.be/wzc1H8-C4No
Now it’s all good.
Forever COYG!!!
Fuck. That was exhausting. Good three points though!
And to add to that, St. Totteringham’s day is drawing closer.
Tighter than I would have hoped, but then I like Burnley and think they don’t make it easy on anyone. Always great to see Ramsey on the scoresheet. And the only Premier League team to win eight straight this season, what a run.
41 to go
That was 49 unbeaten. Winning 49 straight would be another matter entirely.
Fourteen league wins in a row would be nice, that would deprive the Spuds of one of their (few) claims to fame.
Nine league wins is the PL record if I’m not mistaken.
Yeah I know, the sentiment is the same though…8 unbeaten on our march toward the magic 50.
@Gepard
Ironically, mine was the 49th ‘ thumbs up ‘ like !!!!
Everyone played well. Mertesacker MOTM for me. All in all a great day, maximum points, and I didn’t have to listen to any cundits.
Noticed 3 constants during the liveblog:
1. Mertesacker heads away
2. Mertesacker defends well
3. Mertesacker clears away
BFG!
That’s cos blogs has a man-crush on him.
What a game by Coq. Cleaning garbage up, setting up attack that led to goal. Boys grinded this one out, I like this new Arsenal a lot.
Arse log out this up within 9 seconds.
I counted it.
Incredible.
If Buzz Lightyear was a blogger it would be him!
I know. He’s getting slow in his old age, poor dear.
THREE glorious points
The Arsenal machine continues to hum
3 juicy points though. Just need to continue decimating everything in our path
I dunno, one win in ten wouldn’t do me.
Arseblog put this up*
Looks like Sp*rs is more desperate for st tottenringham to come than us
I did not grow up in London and have only been a precious few games to see the Arsenal live, yet I have watched every single match for 15 years; so please don’t label my comment as heretic.
I understand that sp*rs are cunts and all, but I do believe we need an upgrade in our nemesis; frankly, having an incompetent archenemy that hasn’t finished above us in 15+ years is a wasted opportunity. We would be better off directing our hatred and energies towards Chelsea in my opinion.
I’d rather see Mourinho cry than sp*rs relegated.
True, true. Spurms really haven’t been a very worthy archrival the last ten or twenty years, have they?
Francis Coquelin, take a well deserved bow after that performance
Yeaah and Spud loss too.
Was not exactly brickin it, we looked comfortable throughout. What sorcery is this?!
8 in a row let’s keep it going
The Wizard of Ozil backed by an awesome Coq sorcery :O
It was a practice match actually because this is exactly what chelsea is going to do against us in next match. Only they will be much better on the break.
Good win from a scrappy, scrappy game. A lesser team would have been held (spurs) or lost (City)!
Boy, that was a boring game. Dont care ultimately though, got the 3 points and dat is what iz important
Yep, if I was a neutral I would’ve switched off, but great as an Arsenal fan 🙂
No, it wasn’t a pretty game for long stretches, but we can still play sweet football. What’s more important, we can win ugly if the opponents dictate it.
It’s not so much winning ugly as giving a team that wants to counter-attack as few opportunities as possible. Defending with the ball.
Fighting victory. No slack of effort from any one.
Bellarin is growing with every game.
A pretty boring 1-0 win. Fine with me.
and with me
Eight in a row. Not all pretty, but all three points.
3 points are pretty enough by themselves without a deluge of goals, still put some nice passages of play together, and another nice grinding win.
Kinda scrappy, but three points. Chelsea here we come.
Hoping for a draw tomorrow in the Manchester derby and a loss to Chelsea (unlikely).
Eight wins in a row! Upward and onward..
I didn’t think we should risk either Ramsey or Koscielny today.
Oh, how to be wrong on both occasions.
Well done Arsene.
Ehm..why
Poor second half or gritty performance? I’d say both. In the opponent’s half hardly three passes forward and several breaks from Burnley which were dealt with suitably. I don’t know if I want to get used to that. Not with one goal margins, anyway.
On our way to Wembley now, COYG!
Eight wins in a row.Three points in the bag.Now come on QPR do us a favour!
That’s it! Mertasacker reminds me of ralph fiennes
Voldemort?
It’s a scrappy win..who cares let’s keep scrapping the wins #COYG on to the next win and the next. And the next…uhmm…who’s next??
Small matter of an FA Cup semi final against Reading.
Good win but the impact Welbeck’s pace had when he came on was very noticeable. Desperately needed pace on the wings.
Yeah he didn’t lose the ball once and really linked well with our playmakers. Solid cameo from him.
Solid cameo last week too. He’s improving a lot. He’s thinking more and not rushing things. Can see Wenger’s influence already. Has all the physical qualities to be a great player; if he can continue to improve his technique and decision making he could be a great player for us.
Agreed. I thought Cazorla and Ramsey could’ve swapped or Ramsey could’ve been subbed for Welbeck before he came on.
Sanchez or Coquelin MOTM for me. A special mention for the amount of work Bellerin got through today – had a couple of sticky moment though, but it’s to be expected with a player that young.
That was a true grinder of a contest and Bellerin, Mertesacker, Francis (insert dick joke here) Coquelin and Alexis were huge. The team was tireless and tactically perfect, loved every second!
Excellent team effort, even if it was a bit scrappy. And according to a guy called Ben texting to the BBC site, the last time Arsenal won away at Burnley was in 1970 – at which point they went on to win the double, including an FA Cup final win against Liverpool! Repeat thyself, history, goddamnit!
Nah, it’ll have to be against Villa.
I thought Ings and Vokes did a good job of stopping Mertescielny from passing out from the back. I was hoping Cazorla would stay deeper at times to give them an extra pass, but hey-ho, it didn’t matter in the end.
Done. Dusted. Next.
Told you! COYG!
I have a man crush on Coq after todays performance…
Has anyone noticed Bellerin’s special move, where he lets the ball come across him, controls it with his right foot and immediately knocks it on with his left foot?
He seems to do it a lot as far as I can see. Seems to work more often than not as well 🙂
Yeah! Then he does a mini-sprint to get his man to sprint too, puts the brakes on while his markers off-balance, and always seems to have time to assess the best pass. He so good at keeping possession for us which gives him an edge over both Chambers and Debuchy.
Awful game; three welcome points. After we scored early on I thought that we would push on and have a nice easy evening – no chance. Yet again we were too defensive and didn’t put enough pressure on the opposition. Luckily, Burnley were toothless – that’s why they’re probably going down. We had to work for it and were nice and solid with Le Coq the man of the match for me. I never thought that Burnley would convert any of the half-chances that they made. Welbeck looked lively when he came on: I wonder if Le Prof might be… Read more »
A draw would probably be better
damn Fattie, you almost tricked me into believing you’ve written something positive.
Anybody that watched today’s game and could call it awful is an absolute idiot.
If you sat through 90 minutes without simply having your mouth opened in awe at our midfield’s display then I’m ashamed you and I support the same club.
Today’s game at Turf Moor was probably orgasmic compared to a typical mind-numbingly soporific American Football “Gridiron” game (Rugby on Valium), but in comparison to REAL football it was rubbish.
I get turned on by fantastic goals and great saves, not by players grinding away in midfield, closing down space and tackling. If that makes me an idiot then so is most of the real football world.
Ok, buddy?
If you watch football for great goals and great saves exclusively you must really despise the other 88 minutes of the game. Watching a midfield play like Arsenal’s did today for 90 minutes was like watching amazing goals/saves for the entire game imo.
Even Real Madrid and Barcelona beat lower opposition by a single goal sometimes despite dominating the game. What did Burnley have 11′ of possesion in the first 45 minutes?
If that Cazorla free kick goes in and we’re up 2-0 before halftime the entire game changes. Instead we went into the second half only a goal up and chose to stretch Burnley and literally ran them into the ground physically.
Sorry if you don’t like watching nice build-up play + some back passes if the attack doesn’t work out every time. Even Mertesaker was playing one-touch football today.
Stick to watching youtube clips then.
You probably know even less of play in the NFL than you know of football. And believe me, you damned yourself out of your own mouth–you are an idiot.
I’m gonna agree with Newhamphiregunner’s statement statements today. Thinking at any point, before or after the goal that the game’s gonna be easy indicates a lack of intelligence or appreciation or even love of the game. It’s disrespectful to the players who put their bodies on the line to come away with a result that allows you to wallow in the good feeling it is to be an Arsenal fan at the moment. Respect your team, respect the opposition and respect the game. Arsenal did that today, by curbing our more attacking instincts and using our technical and tactical training… Read more »
i guess you’re just one of those who expects Arsenal to win every single game against lesser sides by trashing them 3-0 at least, 1-0 wins are only reserved for winning against top teams like barca and bayern, that might not even be satisfying enough because we didnt play at our fluid best. I dont know how often you watch the Premier League, but getting a 1-0 win away to a team like Burnley to keep our winning run was nothing near to awful. If you do know how Burnley plays, you would have been expecting a close game and… Read more »
3 points. No injuries. The sooner I forget everything else about this game, the better.
COYG, Come On You Gunners. We can do this, let us just keep winning. John Terry is a cunt…
I propose a 100% different players on the FA semis :
Szczeny
Debuchy – Chambers – Gabriel – Gibbs
Arteta – Diaby
Walcott – Wilshere – Rosicky
Welbeck
Wow, we are a very great team now, could field 2 different teams 🙂
The American health coach poached from Germany’s national team may turn out to be one of the more important signings last summer. Onwards and upwards, I say!
Yoi want Arsenal not to advance to the FA Cup finals is it??
I’ve never seen a team dominate a game so much and only win by a goal to nil. The goal was scrappy as well but the finish was excellent. Our midfield is arguably one of the best in the world at the moment, and today showed that. Giroud didn’t have a great game but the rest of the team was completely turned-on and managed to carry. Bellerin best RB in the league by far, Coq best holding mid in the league – both players were seen as nonfactors last season. As somebody who started watching football later in life, the… Read more »
I’m not sure what game you watched.
We won.
1-0 to The Arsenal.
COYRRG.
This is the type of win that brings titles. This arsenal have grown so much. Such a shame we couldn’t scrap for a few more points first half of the season we would be champions elect
Some people are saying we can win the title this season. It’s fairly unlikely that it’ll happen but all we can do is keep on winning. If you told me in November or something that we would win eight in a row I would have laughed. But tomorrow we know at least one of the Manchester clubs will drop points and we still have to play Chelsea. If we beat them I will really start to dream. Although, I would still be delighted with second and the FA cup. That would be a great season and it would show real… Read more »
Scrappy win against a team that never give up, kudos to the lads, now city and manure to draw
Jose will park their bus as usual but only Giroud to destroy it, COYG !!!
First time commenter but long time Arseblog daily reader. Great site, it is nice to see Arsenal fans seemingly happy with current team performances under Arsen! Fickle bunch nowadays with social media do easy to make knee jerk reactions. Ok performance today, result the main thing. Bring on Reading on Chelsea.
….i tell my self not to dream….but i cant help it….
That’s what it means to be a football fan!