Top 5 Wins At Turf Moor

This weekend, Arsenal make the trip up North to face Burnley at Turf Moor. It is a fixture that has generally served The Gunners well over the years, despite The Clarets aggressive and direct approach under former manager Sean Dyche. 

With a distinct lack of goals to choose from, I've done my best to pick out five wins at Burnley for you to reminisce over! I'll be honest though, even I, someone who has an almost identic memory for Arsenal, had wiped some of these from my memory bank.   

Eduardo Sends Arsenal Through

In 2008, Arsenal were chasing glory on multiple fronts. Leading the way in the Premier League and through to the knock-out stage of the Champions League, things were looking good for Arsene Wenger's young squad. 

With the FA Cup, Wenger used the opportunity to rotate his side and give some of his fringe players an opportunity to prove themselves. Eduardo, a summer signing from Dinamo Zagreb, was starting to show his prowess in the league and within ten minutes, had made his mark on the cup. 

A long ball over the top was latched onto by the Croatian, who delayed his shot until the last moment to prod past Gabor Kiraly and give Arsenal the lead. The Gunners were made to wait until the 75th minute to kill the game off though, but it was again Eduardo who proved the difference maker. 

Collecting the ball in the Burnley half, he slid a slide-rule pass through the heart of the home defence for Nicklas Bendtner to run onto. The Dane took one touch to create an angle for the shot before rolling the ball into the back of the net and secure Arsenal's passage to the 4th round. 

Koscielny Last Gasp Winner

Laurent Koscielny made a habit of scoring goals at crucial times for Arsenal, and in 2016 he found another goal at a big moment for The Gunners. 

In a game that seemed like it was drifting to a mundane stalemate, Arsenal built up a sustained spell of pressure and were awarded a corner deep into stoppage time. Taken short, Alexis Sanchez hit a cross into the box that Theo Walcott was able to flick on towards the back post.

Koscielny made contact, only for the ball to deflect off of his wrist and into the back of the net to gift Arsenal all three points. Arsenal were of course delighted with Wenger praising his side for continuing to fight until the end. 

Dyche meanwhile, was left to lament the refereeing performance that he felt cost his side a valuable point. He said: "You've got to question the time, question whether the corner should come in, you've got to question whether it's handball because it certainly looks it."

Sanchez To The Rescue

One year after their dramatic and controversial victory at Turf Moor, Arsenal were once again up to their stoppage time tricks, much to the frustration of Burnley manager Sean Dyche. 

Burnley restricted Arsenal to very few clear-cut opportunities and looked to threaten themselves. Johan Gudmundsson came closest to opening the scoring when his effort was tipped onto the post by Petr Cech, while Jack Wilshere came nearest for Arsenal. 

Having also scored a stoppage time penalty at the Emirates in January to claim three points, Alexis Sanchez was the man for the occasion once more as The Gunners were awarded a penalty in the closing seconds of the game. James Tarkowski was adjudged to have upended Aaron Ramsey, allowing Sanchez the opportunity to claim all three points for Arsenal. His penalty nestled firmly into the bottom corner in front of a raucous away end. 

Once again, Arsenal had snatched a win and somewhat predictably, the two managers had differing views on the decision to award the visitors a penalty. Wenger said: "From the outside, it looked 100% a penalty," while Dyche added that the decision was "inevitable". 

Golden Auba 

On the final day of the 2018/19 season, with very little left to play for, Arsenal headed to Turf Moor and fielded a much-changed side to see out the Premier League season. 

Unai Emery's side had looked strong favourites to clinch a Champions League place, but a poor finish to the season had seen them pipped to the spot by arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur. 

Nevertheless, with a Europa League final on the horizon, Arsenal needed to build some form ahead of the trip to Baku. They took the lead through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who latched onto a mistake by Ben Mee before slotting confidently to grab his 21st league goal of the season. Just ten minutes later he had his 22nd, a goal that would put him joint-top of the Golden Boot leader board with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. Alex Iwobi played a cross to the far post, where Aubameyang was on hand to volley into the far corner. 

Ashley Barnes capitalised on some sloppy Arsenal defending to reduce the deficit, before Eddie Nketiah forced a shot from a narrow angle into the net deep into stoppage time to make sure of the points.

In a season that promised so much under the stewardship of Emery, Arsenal would go on to miss out on European glory as well as the top four.

Odegaard Leads By Example

In 2021, Arsenal were languishing down towards the basement of the table but looking to grab their first away win of the campaign. 

Martin Odegaard provided the magical moment in the 30th minute, bending a delightful free-kick into the back of the net to give The Gunners the lead. Arsenal produced a dominant display and dictated much of the game, albeit without the required goal threat to match. 

As the second half ticked by, Burnley thought they had an opportunity to grab an equaliser when they were awarded a penalty after Aaron Ramsdale was adjudged to have made contact with Matej Vydra. The decision went to review and referee Anthony Taylor subsequently reversed his initial call. 

The game drifted towards its conclusion with minimal drama and Arsenal claimed a crucial victory led by their Norwegian magician. 

With four 1-0 wins in that section of victories, lets hope that Arsenal keep their goalscoring boots from last weekend on and produce another memorable away day.