And that’s your lot! All that’s left is to remind you that Gregg Bakowski is helming Clocko as we speak, and point you in the direction of David Hytner’s match report from the Emirates. Thanks for reading!
And now a word with Unai Emery. “We expected it to be tough. We worked very well today. We are really happy for this victory. Physically we are strong and we can do that if we need to. We imposed our plan.” And what about Dyche’s accusations of diving? “I do not agree with him.”
Sean Dyche speaks, and he’s giving it to you straight. “No-one wants to see diving in the game. There was two dives today ... three I think. Xhaka late on, when he goes through with Vydra, he’s looking at the ref. Ashley Barnes somehow comes out of a tangle with Sokratis, who has elbowed him, I’ve seen it by the way and his elbow goes in on an unnatural movement before he swings over. And Barnesy gets a booking, which is nearly impossible. It’s more about the issue than individuals, I can’t accuse individuals. But it’s got to go out of the game. And to top it off, a clear two-handed push on Long in the box. We’re sixty games without a penalty now. I’m alarmed by how much diving there is now. I’m not talking about gamesmanship, that’s a part of the game, clever players, you clip them, they go down, fine. We’re talking about players going down with nowhere near them. All Emery said at the end was: you were shouting at the ref? And said yes I was absolutely! I think they’re honest and will look back and think I’ve got a case.”
A not particularly cheery Ashley Barnes speaks. “Credit to them, they are a good side. They can go down and get things, we go down and we don’t particularly get so much. But that’s not for me to comment so I’ll leave that one now, please.” As for his run-in with Sokratis? “I’ve got to do my job. There was a bit of handbags on the side, but what will be will be. There was frustration: how many times is he going to foul me before he gets booked, do you know what I mean? The ref was quick enough to give me a card straight away for hardly anything. But that’s happened now, we’ve lost the game and we have to dust ourselves down.”
Match report. David Hytner was at the Emirates to witness a performance that was “Mesut Özil in microcosm”.
Arsenal’s two-goal hero Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang speaks! “Yeah, it was a physical battle, really really hard. But we won and that’s the most important.” When was the last time you played in a game that physical? “Never! I think never! It was really really hard. But all the team fought and we played a great game. The first goal I just tried to be faster than the defender so I could shoot. The second goal, the first touch was important. It is cool and good to know [that he’s leading the top scorer chart now] but the season is long.”
Sokratis Papastathopoulos was also asked about his wonderfully old-school running feud with Ashley Barnes, but basically shrugged and didn’t seem to care one way or the other. “I enjoyed it. That’s football.”
FULL TIME: Arsenal 3-1 Burnley
A match that was entertaining from the get-go comes to an end. Unai Emery goes to shake Sean Dyche’s hand with a smile; he gets a handshake in return, but no season’s greetings from the grim-faced Burnley boss. Arsenal will enjoy a happy Christmas Day, comfortable in fifth place. Burnley remain in the relegation places, but once the pain subsides should be buoyed by a couple of brave displays in north London in the past week.
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90 min +3: The relief around the Emirates is tangible. Happy Christmas, depending on the result at Goodison Park tomorrow afternoon, to everyone in north London!
90 min +2: There was a slight suspicion of offside as the ball broke to Iwobi, but benefit of doubt to the attacker and all that. There wasn’t much in it. Westwood doesn’t concur, and he’s in the book as a result of his complaints.
GOAL! Arsenal 3-1 Burnley (Iwobi 90+1)
Ozil dribbles down the right. He ignores Guendouzi, free in the middle, and instead jinks into the area himself, drops a shoulder and cuts inside. His shot isn’t up to much, but the ball breaks to Iwobi, to his right. Iwobi is free, and smashes home. Game over!
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90 min: There will be five added minutes.
88 min: Sokratis strips Vydra and bombs forward. He lays off to Iwobi on the left. Iwobi feeds the Kolasinac on the overlap, and the wing-back drills a ball across the face of goal. But there’s nobody in red there to tap it in! Kolasinac has been magnificent today.
86 min: Iwobi flips a ball down the left to release Ozil, who nearly finds Aubameyang in the centre with a dipping cross. Mee heads clear, just in time. So close to Aubameyang’s hat-trick.
84 min: Burnley are seeing more of the ball right now. Fortunately for Arsenal, they’re not doing a great deal with it.
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83 min: Lowton comes on for Bardsley.
82 min: Vydra flicks on for Tarkowski, who worries Leno by flashing the ball into the side netting on the left. The tension in the Emirates is palpable.
80 min: Now he’s throwing bits of tape around. People have decided to give him a bit of space.
79 min: There was a full and frank exchange of views between Lacazette and his manager Emery as the striker returned to the bench. Quite the animated sulk from the striker. He’s not happy at being hooked.
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78 min: And then Arsenal make their final change, replacing Lacazette with Iwobi.
77 min: Wood and Barnes, both walking a disciplinary tightrope, are replaced by Vydra and Vokes.
76 min: A rare second-half lull. There’s a lot of action going on in the dugouts, though. Substitutions ahoy.
74 min: Burnley continue to snap into the tackles. Wood clips Guendouzi’s heel. He’s testing the referee’s patience, but there’s to be no second yellow. Meanwhile the combative Torreira, in an act of great symbolism, takes his gloves off and tosses them away. Buckle up, everyone!
72 min: A free kick for Arsenal out on the left leads to a game of head tennis. Burnley just about clear upfield, where Westwood clatters Xhaka. No yellow card for that one, even though Xhaka took a proper whack on the back of the nut.
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70 min: Wood, battling well to hold up the ball just inside the Arsenal box, lays off for Cork, whose attempted curler into the top right is watched impotently by the stranded Leno. Fortunately for Arsenal, the effort is high and wide. The Emirates is a collective bag of nerves right now.
69 min: Space for Westwood down the right. He curls in for Barnes, who has bested Lichtsteiner in a tussle and is free on the penalty spot! His shot is blocked by Leno, but the flag goes up for a free kick anyway. There really wasn’t much in that, and Barnes is within his rights to look aghast.
68 min: But the home side do appear to be quickly clearing their heads, and Aubameyang wins a corner off Long down the left. Ozil and Xhaka faff about, knocking the ball back and forth in the sterile fashion. Eventually the ball is played all the way back to their defence. What a waste.
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66 min: The ever-busy Kolasinac races down the left for the nth time, and rolls a perfect pass into the box for Lacazette. But the striker can’t sort his feet out, and Burnley are able to hack clear. That would have settled Arsenal.
65 min: The pinball stylings continue, this time in the middle of the park. Possession is at a premium right now. Arsenal look a little shaken, all of a sudden.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Burnley (Barnes 63)
Arsenal only half-clear a Burnley free-kick. It’s returned into the mixer. Mee takes it down on the left, and slips the ball inside to Wood, who can’t get a shot away. There’s a game of pinball, then the ball breaks left off Long and into the path of - who else? - Barnes. He’s in a pocket of space, and smashes home from eight yards. Game on!
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61 min: Torreira, not yet into his groove, blooters an awful free kick miles over the bar.
60 min: This is getting out of hand. Cork is booked for a late clip on Guendouzi, while Mee sees yellow for clattering into Aubameyang as the striker, in search of his hat-trick, races down the inside-left channel. A free kick in a very dangerous position.
59 min: Guendouzi lashes wildly at Hendrick and goes into the book. This is hotting up nicely, in the old-school style. Meantime Elneny is replaced by Torreira.
57 min: That was odd, because Burnley had four men offside from that free kick, but the flag didn’t go up. Then Kolasinac shoves Wood at the corner; no penalty. And finally Barnes, who is on a rolling boil, tangles with Guendouzi, sticking his boot on the ball when it’s stuck between the Arsenal midfielder’s legs. He’s fortunate to get away with that one.
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56 min: A free kick for Burnley out on the left, and a chance for the visitors to load the box. Taylor curls a low ball down the inside-left channel towards Wood, who is free on the penalty spot! But he takes a heavy touch, allowing Elneny to poke behind for a corner. What an opportunity spurned!
54 min: A long ball down the middle. Lacazette and Tarkowski tangle under it, on the edge of the Burnley box. Tarkowski falls over, and is rather fortunate to get the decision. If the referee had looked the other way, the Arsenal man was clear.
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52 min: Arsenal stroke it around the back a bit. On the touchline, Sean Dyche looks a worried man. The way this is going, Burnley won’t be escaping the relegation zone in time for Christmas Day.
50 min: Aubameyang is now the Premier League’s top scorer, his 11th and 12th goals taking him past Mo Salah. Meanwhile Guendouzi takes a knee in the back from Barnes, who is treading a fine line.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Burnley (Aubameyang 48)
Burnley press forward. But suddenly they lose the ball and Arsenal break at great pace. Kolasinac strides down the left. He rolls a pass inside for Lacazette, who shuttles the ball further right to Aubameyang. He enters the box and lashes an unstoppable shot past Hart and into the top right. That might have taken a slight nick off Mee on the way, but what power!
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47 min: And now Wood is booked for that clank on the keeper. That’s a tad unnecessary; there was no intent there, as the pair contested a 50-50 ball. On the touchline, Sean Dyche responds as you’d think.
46 min: A long ball down the Burnley right. Wood romps after it, but only succeeds in kicking Leno, rushing out of his area to clear. Westwood tries to return the ball into the unguarded net from 35 yards out on the wing. It sails over the bar, but the whistle’s gone for a foul anyway.
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And we’re off again! Burnley get the party restarted. No half-time changes. “If Emery is planning to get rid of Özil in January, there must be something more going on than football considerations,” argues Kári Tulinius. “Surely Neymar didn’t scar Emery so much that any imaginative playmaker will have to face his wrath. Özil has the patience and intelligence to surprise the opposition and delight punters, he’s the only player of that type Arsenal have.”
Half-time entertainment. This is just magnificent. Please don’t get so lost in nostalgic reverie that you forget to come back for the second half.
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HALF TIME: Arsenal 1-0 Burnley
The referee blows his whistle, and Arsenal lead a Premier League match at the break under Unai Emery for the first time!
45 min: Lacazette powers into the Burnley box down the inside-right channel, but is dispossessed by Long. Lacazette goes over; the crowd scream for a penalty kick, but the striker doesn’t make a claim. It was a good challenge by Long.
44 min: A ball’s hooked into the Arsenal box from deep. Wood nearly gets his head on it, but Xhaka wins the duel. The ball threatens to loop into the top-right corner, but Leno plucks it from the sky just in time. Given Arsenal’s half-time record this season, such an equaliser would have been beyond absurd.
43 min: Arsenal are 120 seconds plus stoppage time away from a 2018-19 first: a half-time lead! It’s clearly on their minds, because all of a sudden they’ve retreated into their shell, and the visitors are seeing a lot of the ball.
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41 min: Barnes is all but rugby tackled by Sokratis in the centre circle, as the Burnley striker looks to break into space. Barnes, who has already been booked, clearly thinks about giving Sokratis a smack, but catches himself just in time. Soktratis is booked. He’s the calmer of the pair, though, and has clearly worked out how to press Barnes’s buttons.
39 min: Mee threatens to break clear down the left, but just as it looks as though he’s going to power into the box, Maitland-Niles comes back to barge his way into possession. Great tracking back; Mee frowns in frustration as a chance to cause Arsenal some rare discomfort is gone.
38 min: Another defensive injury for Arsenal, as Monreal departs shaking his head. He’s off down the tunnel, with Lichtsteiner taking his place.
36 min: In the end, it’s just a yellow for Barnes, for his angry reaction to the elbow. He was hit upside the head by Sokratis, but it was with the pair rolling around the floor, so the referee couldn’t tell whether it was deliberate or not. Barnes feels much aggrieved.
35 min: Wahey! It all kicks off as Barnes and Sokratis tumble off the pitch and wrestle in the directed-by-Ken-Russell manner. Barnes is livid, claiming he’s been crumped by Sokratis’s elbow. Team-mates pile in, though it all calms down quickly enough.
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33 min: Another of those aforementioned lulls. The Emirates falls accordingly quiet.
31 min: Ozil slips Lacazette into the Burnley box down the right. Lacazette checks, then crosses in the rabona style. And that’s very much style over substance, as the ball is reasonably aimless and easily cleared. Still, the crowd enjoyed it, and that’s half the point.
29 min: Cork tries to release Hendrick down the inside-left channel, but Sokratis is over to shepherd the ball out of play. Hendrick clips him from behind, and the defender isn’t happy about it at all, but the referee’s seen nothing untoward. We move on.
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27 min: ... there’s a bit of head tennis in the Arsenal six-yard box but Leno punches clear.
26 min: Burnley resort to the long ball. Barnes loses a challenge with Elneny but wins a throw. From the throw, Xhaka heads behind for a corner, Burnley’s first of the match. From which ...
24 min: Ozil is brushed to the ground by Mee and demands a free kick he’ll not get. Then he takes his captain’s responsibility too far, moaning loudly at the referee and earning a one-more-word-from-you-sonny rollocking from the official.
22 min: It’s been a slightly strange game so far: stretches of intense excitement punctuated by occasional periods of downtime. Here’s another one of the latter.
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20 min: Kolasinac brings the game back to life with a power run down the left. He reaches the byline and tugs a pass back for Guendouzi, who looks to shoot but can’t get anything away. The ball breaks to Maitland-Niles on the right; the young wing-back warms Hart’s hands with a shot.
19 min: VISIT RWANDA. SKY SPORTS FEEL IT ALL. GATORADE. A lull, in other words, as the attention wanders.
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17 min: Mee knocks Ozil to the floor, out by the left touchline. A chance for Arsenal to load the box. Ozil doesn’t launch it, instead rolling a pass down the wing for Kolasinac to chase. Kolasinac takes a heavy touch and clanks it out of play for a goal kick. A penalty box full of Arsenal defenders seethe.
16 min: So much for Burnley’s confident front-foot start. And suddenly their passes aren’t sticking any more. Arsenal meanwhile are gliding about.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Burnley (Aubameyang 14)
Oh this is gorgeous. Arsenal triangulate down the right for a while. Suddenly Ozil finds a little space just inside the area. He takes a touch to move into it, then curls an exquisite low diagonal pass to Kolasinac, bursting in from the left. Kolasinac cuts the ball back from the byline, and Aubameyang slams home from ten yards! That was a delight. A captain’s contribution!
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11 min: Burnley ping it around the middle of the park awhile with confidence. For a team in the middle of a grim run of form, they’ve come out with a very positive mindset today. Sean Dyche went out of his way in the pre-match interview to say how defensive they were going to be; a grift, perhaps.
8 min: A cross comes into the Burnley box from Lacazette on the left. Elneny rises to head. Hart parries, and after a minor melee, Tarkowski hacks clear in a panic from their six-yard box for the second time already. This is a fun start.
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7 min: Some good harassing by Lacazette down the inside-left channel. The ball breaks to Xhaka, 20 yards out. He sweeps a side-footed shot towards the bottom left. Hart saves well.
6 min: Cork snaffles the ball off Elneny in the midfield and drives forward. He can’t quite feed Barnes on the edge of the Arsenal box, and the attack breaks down. But for a second or two there, Arsenal looked very light at the back.
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4 min: Seems that Burnley shot took a little nick off Sokratis, so it’s a corner. There’s a long pause before it, with the referee taking issue to some pushing and shoving. Eventually it comes to nowt. That end-to-end start got the crowd going, though, as it had been a bit subdued at kick-off. Quite a few empty seats around.
Arsenal get the Christmas party started! They stroke it around a bit. Then suddenly the game springs into life, both teams nearly scoring in an absurd 20-second burst. Lacazette slips Maitland-Niles in down the right; he shoots low. Hart parries and Tarkowski hacks clear from his six-yard box. Then Westwood tears up the other end, finds Wood down the right, and Wood’s shot trickles across Leno and out of play, inches to the left of goal. What a start!
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The teams are out! Arsenal are in their famous 1930s red-and-white shirts, while oh dear, what can they do, Burnley are in black and they’re feeling blue. Can the visitors clamber out of the bottom three? We’ll soon find out, because we’ll be off in a minute!
Unai Emery is asked what sort of response he expects from Ozil. He hopes for a good one, but also “from all the players. It’s important to get the three points today. Burnley also have attacking players and we need to respond to those situations. We have to show quality and positivity. It will be a difficult match.” He’s then asked to reveal his formation today, but he’s not having a bar of it, instead smiling beatifically and, with a twinkle in his eye, telling the chap from Sky that Arsenal simply want to win.
Sean Dyche speaks! “It’s tough coming to these places, but you look to build a chance by giving a good performance. A very defensive performance. It’s difficult. We’re looking at the bodies we have, and had to change our shape. We’ve got to find our balance, we’ve got to defend well, we were very solid at Tottenham. But we’ve got to find more attacking threat, and historically I’ve liked starting with two forwards. It’s not easy. We didn’t look at how Southampton troubled Arsenal, we look at ourselves. We’re aware of how these teams operate and do our analysis, but it’s not always about the tactics, it’s about the delivery of the tactics.”
Mesut Özil has the captain’s armband for Arsenal today, incidentally. “Is Ozil being presented held aloft on a silver tray while a fashionable showgirl makes pointy gestures at him?” wonders Hubert O’Hearn, who may have watched too many episodes of Sale of the Century in his youth. “Classic showcase match - winnable opponent and right before the transfer window opens.” This week’s star prizes include a solid-mahogany dining suite, a 20-inch television set and music centre, his-and-hers watches in gold quartz, a 1,000cc easy-on-the-fuel Mini Metro, and a 1,000cc easy-on-the-fuel mercurial German playmaker. Link includes one of the great theme tunes, plus 1970s ITV ident porn.
The home side make five changes to the team that started the League Cup defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in midweek. Bernd Leno, Saed Kolasinac, Mohamed Elneny, Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette come in for Petr Cech, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Aaron Ramsey, Lucas Torreira and Alex Iwobi.
Burnley are also coming off the back of a loss to Tottenham Hotspur, theirs a last-minute sickener in the Premier League last weekend. Two changes from that: Jeff Hendrick and Chris Wood replace Robbie Brady and Aaron Lennon.
The teams
Arsenal: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Papastathopoulos, Monreal, Kolasinac, Guendouzi, Elneny, Xhaka, Ozil, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
Subs: Cech, Ramsey, Torreira, Lichtsteiner, Iwobi, Nketiah, Saka.
Burnley: Hart, Bardsley, Long, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Westwood, Cork, Hendrick, Barnes, Wood.
Subs: Heaton, Lowton, Vokes, Gibson, Vydra, McNeil, Koiki.
Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire).
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Preamble
Like the proverbial London bus, you wait 22 matches for a defeat, then two come along at once. But after losses at Southampton and in the north London derby, Arsenal couldn’t have hand-picked a better bounce-back fixture. It’s Burnley, who were obliterated 5-0 at the Emirates seven months ago, and who have lost their last eight matches against the Gunners.
Unai Emery’s side are hot favourites this lunchtime. A two-match losing run isn’t ideal, but that’s nothing compared to Burnley’s travails. The Clarets have lost seven of their last nine matches; they’ve only won four times all season, a dreadful return from 24 games. They’re in the bottom three, shipping goals at the rate of two a match. It’s not looking good for Sean Dyche’s men.
Arsenal’s creaky defence may throw them a lifeline: the Gunners have conceded 23 times already this season. Penny for the thoughts of Tony Adams, Steve Bould, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn. And yet the smart money will be on the likes of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang running riot up the other end. It could be a long afternoon for struggling Burnley. But they’ve sprung plenty of surprises before. Can they unwrap another today? It’s Arsenal v Burnley. It’s three days until Christmas. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm GMT.
