Arsenal 3-1 Burnley
by Layth Yousif
at Ashburton Grove

GOALS from William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko sealed victory for Arsenal after James Trafford leveller Leandro Trossard’s opener.

In a rare 3pm kick-off on a gloriously sunny Saturday afternoon in North London, Mikel Arteta’s side eased into second place in the Premier League, capitalising on Wolves’ late victory over Spurs in the lunchtime kick-off.

Despite dominating the opening stages, Trossard’s opener came in the first half of injury time, when the former Brighton attacker showed bravery to nod home Bukayo Saka’s corner while clattering into Clarets keeper James Trafford.

Vincent Kompany’s side might be second bottom of the table, but they came out full of intent at the start of the second half. Their positivity was rewarded when Josh Brownhill fired past David Raya on 54 minutes, even if his shot took a deflection off Gunners’ Brazilian centre-back Gabriel to make the score 1-1.

However, it was Arsenal’s other centre-back who put the home side back in control a mere 180 seconds later, Saliba emphatically heading home Trossard’s corner for 2-1.

Worse was to come for Kompany’s Clarets as Zinchenko showed athleticism and anticipation to fire home through a crowded box into Trafford’s far corner to make it 3-1 on 74 minutes.

Substitute Fabio Vieira — who replaced the underwhelming Kai Havertz on the hour mark — received a straight red card after his high challenge was deemed worthy of exclusion, after referee Michael Oliver had not booked a single player in the preceding 83 minutes.

When asked about the sending off, Arteta said with a reply laced with irony and Basque humour after the furore following his reaction to Newcastle’s controversial winner against Arsenal last week: “With the red card, yes, thank you for asking me, VAR was right, the referee was right, really good decision.”