Arsenal vs Burnley: Instant Reaction

Thoughts at full time

Arsenal get back to winning ways after the loss at Newcastle.

Headline: Burnley, just what the doctor ordered

Burnley were a tough challenge here.

They came out with a well-drilled mid/low block deciding against some of the more naive tactics that they started the season with and made it so Arsenal had to put together a number very good plays to create an opening.

This led to a typical pattern for this season, Arsenal dominated the ball and territory but it wasn’t quite turning into big chances with Arsenal looking for the killer ball and not just speculative shots.

Pressure built as Burnley were pushed further and further back and it looked like it might be for nothing.

Thankfully, Arsenal was able to do it here finding the breakthrough right before halftime with a back post cross (lots of those today and they were coming off pretty well) that was bravely put home by Leandro Trossard.

Arsenal got pegged back on a deflected shot but answered right away and then added a third goal to put things out of reach. A soft red (but can’t be complained too much about) made it so Arsenal couldn’t run up the score but this ended up as a match that was just what the doctor ordered.

Arsenal were depleted with injury (another one today with White out with a knock) and a low-stress match at a pretty slow pace was exactly what was needed. Arsenal again showed excellent control and ability to limit their opponents from getting into dangerous spots.

This team is hopefully turning the corner adding back some of the goals that might have been missing.

To top things off, the results today put Arsenal on top of Tottenham who lost their second in a row, blowing an early lead and playing pretty bad as well.

It was a wonderful way to start the weekend and it will be really interesting to see how something like this gets spun in the media.

Stock Rising: Oleksandr Zinchenko