PREVIEW: Burnley vs Arsenal

 

Arsenal head to Turf Moor to take on Burnley, hoping to make it five wins on the bounce. Following last weekends 6-0 hammering of West Ham United, they'll be hoping to maintain the pressure at the top of the table and capitalise on any mistakes from those around them. 

Injury News - Arsenal

Mikel Arteta has continued to keep his cards close to his chest with regards to injury news, having been without a whole host of first-team players in last weeks win at West Ham. In his pre-match press conference on Friday, he stated that no one was ruled out and that there had been no major set backs ahead of the weekends match. 

He added: "Some of them have been progressing better than others. Some of them have done a few bits this week and I'm positive that hopefully we're going to get a few back tomorrow." Arteta was reluctant to be drawn on specific players, but did comment that Thomas Partey was progressing well and also suggested that Fabio Vieira was also nearing a return. 

Speaking on the latter, Arteta said: "He's very close. He's been training already for a few days with the team. He'll be back probably faster than we expected and he's in a good place." When asked if he could return for the Champions League tie with Porto, he responded: "There is a chance, yes." 

Jurrien Timber remains the only player that remains out for certain, with Arteta's comments suggesting that Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Jesus, Emile Smith Rowe and Oleksandr Zinchenko could also be involved in some way. 

Injury News - Burnley

Burnley will be without forward Lyle Foster, who has been forced to have surgery on a chronic issue. Jordan Beyer is also expected to miss out, having been absent since the end of December. 

In more positive news for The Clarets, left-back Charlie Taylor is expected to be available and could come back into the starting XI. Long-term absentees Nathan Redmond and Luca Koleosho continue to be ruled out. 

Form

Arsenal have won all of their matches since returning from their winter break and will go into this game full of confidence, having put six past West Ham last weekend. Burnley meanwhile are winless in six but have seen their home form pick up with draws against both Fulham and Luton Town across those games. They lost 3-1 to Liverpool last time out. 

Recent History

Arsenal have played Burnley 114 times, winning 56, losing 34 and drawing 24. Arsenal won the reverse fixture 3-1 at the Emirates in November, with goals from Leandro Trossard, William Saliba and Zinchenko cancelling out a Josh Brownhill goal. 

The Gunners have lost just once in the past 17 league encounters. They last lost at Turf Moor in 2008 in  the League Cup, with their last league defeat there stretching back to 1973. 

Played For Both

Ian Wright signed for Burnley in 2000 for a brief spell, where he scored four goals in 15 games to help them achieve promotion to Division One. Lee Dixon also started his career as a schoolboy with The Clarets, going onto make four senior appearances for the club. He later signed for Arsenal in 1988 where he would establish himself as legend and win multiple honours. 

Finally, Mark Randall who came through the Arsenal academy and made 13 appearances for the club, went on loan to Burnley in 2008 where he made ten appearances. Randall would go on to drop down the football league before signing for Northern Irish Premiership side Larne in 2019, where he has made 120 appearances. 

Prediction

Arsenal of course head into this fixture as red-hot favourites. They are in great form and face a side who they have an excellent record against. 

Burnley are certainly a different threat than they were under Sean Dyche, with Vincent Kompany praised for his adventurous style of football. However, although this could make for a better game, it could suit Arsenal's approach.

Burnley will not make it easy for Arsenal but if the visitors have any aspirations for the title, then this is the sort of game they cannot afford to drop points in. 

Burnley 0-3 Arsenal.