Burnley vs Arsenal. Premier League.
Turf MoorAttendance21,722.
Monday 27 November 2017 06:27, UK
Alexis Sanchez kept his cool to convert a penalty in second-half stoppage time to hand Arsenal a 1-0 victory over Burnley at Turf Moor.
Arsenal won both their league games against Burnley last season thanks to injury-time winners and they did so again after James Tarkowski was penalised for a push on Aaron Ramsey.
Burnley rattled the post through Johann Gudmundsson while Jack Wilshere's deflected effort ten minutes from time was the closest Arsenal came until Sanchez sealed the win with virtually the last kick of the game.
The result means that Arsenal have leapfrogged local rivals Tottenham into fourth place while Burnley remain seventh.
Gudmundsson had the first meaningful chance of the afternoon, skipping beyond Nacho Monreal inside the area before lashing a shot onto the post with his weaker right foot. Replays showed that Petr Cech managed to get fingertips on the effort and it was an outstanding save.
Arsenal were unable to muster a single shot on target in the first half but Ramsey certainly should have tested Nick Pope in goal when he side-footed over the bar from inside the box after good work from Alexandre Lacazette down the left wing.
Robbie Brady capped his Burnley debut with a wonderful free-kick goal against Chelsea in February and from virtually the same position he drew another good save from Cech with the veteran 'keeper sprawling to divert the ball away from the top corner.
Gudmundsson was lively throughout and he tested Cech with another effort from distance as he cut in from the right and shot powerfully, although the Arsenal keeper read his intentions and made the save look relatively comfortable.
Chances were at a premium in the second half but the introduction of Wilshere for the ineffective Alex Iwobi at least gave Arsenal fresh impetus in midfield and the substitute went close to breaking the deadlock late on as his shot cannoned off Tarkowski and spiralled just wide.
It looked as though the two teams would have to settle for a share of the spoils before Arsenal were awarded a penalty in the final minute of stoppage time after Ramsey was upended by Tarkowski and Sanchez fired his penalty beyond the reach of Pope into the corner to hand Arsenal the win.
Arsenal extended their unbeaten run to 10 top-flight matches against Burnley (W7 D3).
Burnley have now lost their last three home Premier League games against Arsenal by a 1-0 scoreline.
Sean Dyche: "To be honest it was highly unlikely it was not going to get given on a day like today.
"I take pride in the play. They are a fine side. We know they are a very technical side, to limit them to a few chances is very pleasing.
"So many parts of our performance were pleasing, it's hard to define sometimes how you don't get something from a game but we didn't today."
Arsene Wenger: "In the second half we upped the tempo and dominated much more, we created more chances and it was a question of finding the final ball, being patient and not making a mistake at the back.
"From the outside it looked 100 percent a penalty, I don't know why he pushed him with two hands in his back but it looked like a penalty.
"When you see how difficult it is to score against them it's a big result, you'd think that many clubs will drop points here."
Burnley defended their penalty box doggedly throughout and nobody epitomised their effort more than Ben Mee who didn't put a foot wrong in the game.
Mee made four blocks in total to deny Arsenal shots from close range and marked Lacazette imperiously throughout the game, alongside his partner James Tarkowski who was unfortunate to concede the penalty.
He was mightily unlucky to be on the losing side.
Burnley will be looking to bounce back from this defeat on Wednesday when they face in-form Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium while Arsenal are in action against Huddersfield at the Emirates on the same day.
