Turf Moor, where grit is said to prevail, will be the venue of this 25th fixture of Arsenal\u2019s worst Premier League season in recent memory. Mikel Arteta\u2019s 10th placed side travel to 13th placed Burnley with only goal differential separating them. The two clubs are level on 30 points, the hosts having won three more but drawn nine fewer matches than the north Londoners. The Sunday kickoff increases the pressure on both clubs to keep pace with three other clubs on 30 points (Newcastle, Everton, Crystal Palace) who may have picked up points on Saturday. Arsenal have not won in the Premier League since New Year\u2019s Day when they kept a clean sheet at home against Manchester United, but they drew their three other league fixtures in January. February brings hope that Arteta\u2019s charges will come through with another gritty performance, and three highly prized points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this fixture last May, when the players\u2019 attention might have been distracted by the upcoming Europa League final, Arsenal emerged victorious through second-half goals by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (2) and Eddie Nketiah. Unai Emery was looking relatively comfortable for one of his last times as manager. This season, the 40-odd days since the arrival of Arteta has given the players\u2019 confidence a major boost. Their sustained positive approach in recent matches has been a pleasure to see, coming as a relief after the mounting negativity of the last months under Emery when they seemed to be waiting for the next thing to go wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Burnley have played 12 home league fixtures, winning and losing six each. Sean Dyche\u2019s side defeated bottom-half clubs Southampton, Norwich, Everton, West Ham, and Newcastle, and third-placed Leicester on the 19th of January. They should be well-rested, last having played eight days ago when they lost a home Cup tie to Norwich City. But the Clarets\u2019 most recent Premier League match was their impressive away win and clean sheet at Old Trafford, where Burnley had not won in nearly 60 years. If Burnley can maintain their recent levels of energy and discipline, Arsenal could struggle to break them down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The centre-half pairing of Ben Mee and James Tarkowski have anchored Burnley\u2019s defence in all 24 league fixtures, and Arsenal should expect to see them again. Burnley will be feeling confident about their attacking prospects considering their strength on high balls and set pieces, as well as Arsenal\u2019s well-discussed defensive weaknesses in those situations. At Old Trafford the Clarets lined up in a 4-4-2 formation with Jay Rodriguez and Chris Wood leading the line and both players getting their names on the scoresheet. Ashley Westwood, and 20-year old academy graduate Dwight McNeil have been the two most important creative forces in Burnley\u2018s midfield, and both of them should both feature against the Gunners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arsenal’s continuing run of uneven away form remains a concern. The Gunners have garnered only two wins, at Newcastle in August and West Ham in December. In their remaining away fixtures they drew seven and lost three, so an upturn is certainly in order. They last played Monday when they defeated Bournemouth in the FA Cup, and will try to build on the positives of that match as well as their most recent league match the 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge when they drew level twice despite playing with ten men for over an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Team selection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In central defence David Luiz returns from suspension and should partner Sokratis Papastathopoulos. On their flanks, Hector Bellerin and 18-year old dynamo Bukayo Saka should keep their places. Shkodran Mustafi, who suffered an ankle injury at Bournemouth, is not expected to play, and after the loan signings of defenders Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares, the German\u2019s rung on the ladder may have sunk a bit lower. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A key decision is in midfield where Arteta needs to mitigate Burnley\u2019s height advantage. But does he have a ready replacement for Lucas Torreira? In his selection decisions thus far the manager has not shown full confidence in Matteo Guendouzi, who performed so well at Bournemouth, but the young Frenchman should have a good shot at continuing his run here. Granit Xhaka is in an encouraging stretch of form, and his defensive duties have been expanding recently so it will be interesting to see his role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A bit farther up the pitch, Mikel Arteta has shown renewed faith in Mesut \u00d6zil, who was so often left out of the team in these fixtures in years past. Where the opposition\u2019s defensive approach features rotational fouling, will Arteta keep faith with his highest-paid player? Based on every one of his selection decisions so far, he could indeed. But this is Arteta\u2019s first squad selection \u201cup north\u201d having narrowly missed taking charge at Everton in December, and he may consider other options such as Joe Willock, whose physical qualities could add balance to the starting XI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Arsenal attack, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is once again available for selection following his three-match ban, and should go straight into the team alongside Alexandre Lacazette. Nicolas P\u00e9p\u00e9 can be expected to provide width on the right side with Gabriel Martinelli available as a substitute to run at tiring Burnley defenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arsenal: Leno, Beller\u00edn, Luiz, Sokratis, Saka, Xhaka, Guendouzi, \u00d6zil, Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u2018holic pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In spite of our less than stellar away form I am backing a 1-2 away win to The Arsenal with Aubameyang scoring two delightful second-half goals and Burnley snatching one at the death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s to the long-awaited start of Arsenal\u2019s march back up the table. Wherever you watch the game, keep spirits high, Dave in your heart, and have a great one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Turf Moor, where grit is said to prevail, will be the venue of this 25th fixture of Arsenal\u2019s worst Premier League season in recent memory. Mikel Arteta\u2019s 10th placed side travel to 13th placed Burnley with only goal differential separating them. The two clubs are level on 30 points, the hosts having won three more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"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\/251"}],"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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}