Second-placed Arsenal visit Burnley on Saturday evening in what should be a fierce match given that both teams are in great need of points. For the Gunners a win would consolidate their second place and also put pressure on Premier League leaders Chelsea as for the Clarets any point would do in their battle for survival in the top flight. Arsenal won the reverse fixture 3-0 in November with Alexis Sanchez scoring twice. Burnley have not beaten the Gunners in the Premier League since 1974 but they did get a League Cup victory in 2008.
Last weekend Burnley held Tottenham to a goalless draw but they could have grabbed all three points if Danny Ings wouldn't have missed a few good chances. Burnley have been strong at home against England's top teams, they have avoided defeat against four of the Premier League's top seven teams. They are two points from safety at the moment but they have been struggling to score, producing just one goal in their last five matches. Dean Marney, Kevin Long and Matty Taylor will be missing out through injury.
Arsenal are probably the most in-form side in the league, last weekend they defeated Liverpool 4-1 in their seventh consecutive Premier League win. No team has secured eight successive wins this season but Arsenal seem ready to do it now. It might be too late for a title push though as Chelsea have a comfortable seven-point cushion at the top of the table with a game in hand. Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta and even Abou Diaby have recovered from injury but are not yet ready for first-team action while Laurent Koscielny is in doubt.
Probable line-ups:
Burnley: Heaton - Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Mee - Boyd, Arfield, Jones, Barnes - Ings, Vokes
Arsenal: Ospina - Bellerin, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Monreal - Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Sanchez, Ozil - Giroud
My prediction: Arsenal to win 3-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Burnley win - 6.50 Draw - 4.33 Arsenal win - 1.57
timidi 9 years ago Newbie
Burnley showed us this year that they can be very good opponent to some of the best teams in Premier league. They can play very good defense at home and every team which play here don't have easy job. Arsenal won here 0-1, they scored early goal and they had enough experience to keep that result and win very important...
Burnley showed us this year that they can be very good opponent to some of the best teams in Premier league. They can play very good defense at home and every team which play here don't have easy job. Arsenal won here 0-1, they scored early goal and they had enough experience to keep that result and win very important three points. Now they are sure for that place for champions league and they must be happy with that because Chelsea is to far from them.
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sharpe
9 years ago
Super Hero
Arsenal are in great shape lately and anything except their victory in this game will be a great shock. Burnley surprised many people, playing good football all season long and Shaun Dyche's boys deserve all credit for that. Will be very tough for them tough against the Gunners.
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seculla
9 years ago
Super Hero
Burnley in last two matches at their own Turf Moor won against Manchester City, and outplayed Tottenham and gets a point, and I think that they deserved all three points for their passion that they showed in that match. So now they will face Arsenal which is in their best shape since the start of the season and also they...
Burnley in last two matches at their own Turf Moor won against Manchester City, and outplayed Tottenham and gets a point, and I think that they deserved all three points for their passion that they showed in that match. So now they will face Arsenal which is in their best shape since the start of the season and also they are fighting to stay in top three places at the table. It will be interesting to see if Burnley can get some points from Arsenal too.
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