{"id":12167,"date":"2025-10-31T16:10:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T16:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12167"},"modified":"2025-11-01T20:08:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T20:08:36","slug":"arsenal-required-to-roll-on-relentlessly-at-turf-moor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12167","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal Required to Roll On Relentlessly at Turf Moor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"y4BCqNkIQa1dPtduZ-lP6A\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2017999960\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'y4BCqNkIQa1dPtduZ-lP6A',sig:'EtAjKpUThOVqh1kVKpau2ry5fUfm_6zbkPBLmfZXMno=',w:'594px',h:'367px',items:'2017999960',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>And so to Turf Moor, where Burnley will host us at the proper time for a football match, three o&#8217;clock on a Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Burnley has played at Turf Moor since 1883, making it the second-longest continuously used ground in English league football after Preston North End&#8217;s Deepdale. On our first visit, for an FA Cup tie in 1896, we lost 6-1. Bert Russell, Woolwich Arsenal&#8217;s goalkeeper that day, would never play for the club in a competitive match again, although, to be fair, he had also never played in one before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our first victory there did not come until November 1902, with a 3-0 win in a Division 2 league game. Since then, apart from a period after World War One when Burnley were runners-up and then League champions (1919-20 and 1920-21), and later when Harry Potts&#8217;s team, featuring Jimmy Adamson and Sammy McIlroy, was a force as the 1950s gave way to the 1960s (champions in 1959-60 and runners-up in 1961-62), our visits to Turf Moor have generally not been too troublesome.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We haven&#8217;t lost in the league there since 1973, and only once since 1967. However, there have been only 19 league visits as Burnley fell from grace, avoiding relegation from the Football League in 1986-87 by the skin of their teeth. An unlikely win against promotion-chasing Leyton Orient on the last day of the season lifted them off the bottom of the Fourth Division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its uneven and sometimes uneasy climb back to the top flight was completed by 2009-10, and even since then, there have been several returns to the Championship.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our most recent visit was in February 2024. Vincent Kompany had taken over as manager after the club&#8217;s then-newish US owners, ALK Capital, had given Sean Dyche the tin tack in April 2022, ahead of another relegation to the Championship. The Belgian brought them straight back up, but we gave his young team a 5-0 dose of home schooling. Burnley would go down again, and Kompany to Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scott Parker \u2014 a manager I find irritating, perhaps because of his choice of sweaters, probably because that taint of the Middlesex marshes can never be wholly eradicated \u2014 brought them up again at the first opportunity. He now has them five points and two places above the relegation zone after a 3-2 win at Molineux last weekend, which extended their unbeaten run to two matches.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nevertheless, the gentlemen of the turf still consider Burnley as second favourites to go down again, even if Opta&#8217;s supercomputer predicts they will survive by a point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Parker likes to play a 4-2-3-1, but has deployed a 5-4-1 against the stronger teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Veteran Slovak keeper Martin Dubravka will be between the sticks. He joined in July from Newcastle \u2014 one of 14 summer signings \u2014 to replace young James Trafford, who had moved to Man City&#8217;s bench. Dubravka&#8217;s last-minute save against Wolves stopped Burnley from leaving Molineux with just a point last Sunday, and his four prior saves, with none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Wales international Connor Roberts off games, Kyle Walker should start at right wing-back. He was another summer signing, from Man City via a loan at AC Milan. On the opposite flank will likely be Quilindschy&nbsp;Hartman, a Dutchman a dozen years the 35-year-old Walker\u2019s junior, but whose career has been blighted by two serious knee injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They will likely flank the lanky young Frenchman, Maxime&nbsp;Est\u00e8ve, the Swedish international Hjalmar&nbsp;Ekdal, and Axel&nbsp;Tuanzebe, who has just regained his place in DR Congo&#8217;s national team that will hope to qualify for next year&#8217;s World Cup finals via the Africa play-offs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tuanzebe, a product of the Man U youth system, was picked up from Ipswich on a free in the summer. He has also recently returned to the Burnley side, having missed the first six league games due to a muscular injury. German centre-half Jordan Breyer, however, remains a long-term injury absentee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Florentino, a former Portugal U-21 international on loan from Benfica, and club captain, Josh&nbsp;Cullen, the Essex-born Irish international who learned his trade at West Ham but arrived at Burnley from Anderlecht at the same time as Kompany, will likely share the defensive midfield duties. Lesley&nbsp;Ugochukwu, the France U-23 international whom Burnley bought from Chelsea in the summer for \u20ac28.7 million after being on loan at Southampton, has been playing himself into full match fitness and is an option, either to start or from the bench. He likes a pop at goal from distance, and is Burnley&#8217;s joint second-highest scorer with two goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another who could either start or come off the bench is Josh Laurent, a Leytonstone-born journeyman DM (now 30 and Burnley is his ninth club). Parker has used him in the backline as an auxiliary centre back, and he has covered for the injured Ekdal in recent matches. If Ekdal does not have 90 minutes in his legs, Laurent could keep his starting place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Parker also has Hannibal to bring on as the legs tire. The French-born midfielder has 37 caps for Tunisia, despite still being only 22. Does he come with elephants?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jaidon Anthony, yet another summer signing, this time from Bournemouth, has been an ever-present on the wing this season and Burnley&#8217;s main goal threat. He is the club&#8217;s top scorer with four goals, and has had twice as many shots and twice as many on target as any teammate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Parker has variously paired Anthony with the Denmark international Jacob&nbsp;Bruun Larsen, signed from Stuttgart in the summer, and France U-21 international Loum&nbsp;Tchaouna, who arrived from Lazio at the same time. Parker can also call on Marcus&nbsp;Edwards, the Londoner who made his name at Sporting but has been an unused sub in the league this season, apart from five minutes in the first game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zian&nbsp;Flemming, whose loan from Millwall was made permanent in the summer after being Parker\u2019s first-choice striker for much of last season, will probably lead the line, having regained the role he lost to Lyle Foster at the start of this season after the South Africa international returned from the last interlull with a knock. Foster scored the winner against Wolves from the bench, but will likely start there again as he rebuilds fitness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dutchman has been preferred over Slough-born Albania international Armando&nbsp;Broja \u2014 yes, you guessed it, signed in the summer from Chelsea for \u20ac22 million \u2014 and the veteran Ashley Barnes, who has played more than 300 games for the club.&nbsp;Switzerland\u2019s striker Zeki&nbsp;Amdouni, who converted a loan from Benfica into a permanent transfer in the summer, is out following ACL surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scoring goals \u2014 12 in nine league matches despite having the lowest xG in the league \u2014 has been less of a problem for Burnley this season than preventing them. Only the bottom two clubs have conceded more than Burnley&#8217;s 17 goals. Against Wolves, the second-lowest-scoring side in the league, Burnley&#8217;s defence appeared weak, particularly in the air. Nicolas Jover must be licking his lips in anticipation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kai Havertz, Jesus, Noni Madueke, and Martin \u00d8degaard remain our long-term injuries. Gabriel Martinelli is out. William Saliba is a doubt, better rested than risked, in my opinion. I expect many changes from the starting XI against Brighton midweek, reverting to something similar to the one that beat Palace. Thus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Zubimendi, Rice, Eze<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That XI should be too strong for Burnley, not that there are any routine wins for anyone in the Premier League.&nbsp;Parker has called on Burnley fans to make the atmosphere at Turf Moor, where his team has lost only once this season, as hostile to the visitors as they can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arteta&#8217;s ask of his team will be to remain relentless in accumulating three points in every game, regardless of the opposition. A 3-0 win would make for a satisfactory trip north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy the game, &#8216;holics, near and far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images And so to Turf Moor, where Burnley will host us at the proper time for a football match, three o&#8217;clock on a Saturday. Burnley has played at Turf Moor since 1883, making it the second-longest continuously used ground in English league football after Preston North End&#8217;s Deepdale. On our first visit, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12167"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12185,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12167\/revisions\/12185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}