Someone Has To Win At Burnley This Season, Don’t They?
Oct 1st, 2016 by 'holic
Something called the Ryder Cup has prevented me from starting this preview until after nine in the evening. The fact that the afternoon foursomes are approaching halfway means this could take hours to complete! A big thank you first to those who have said such kind words about the Arsene twenty years piece. Save your admiration for the man who provided the memories that so many of us were happy to commit to print. The good work was entirely his.
Now, Burnley away. Not a match to be taken lightly as Liverpool and Watford can already attest. The Clarets also drew with Hull so are unbeaten at home so far this season. Those seven points have them comfortably outside of the relegation zone at present. If Sean Dyche does keep them up this season it will be one of the big stories.
Arsenal arrive at Turf Moor in astonishingly good form though. Four wins on the bounce since getting out of jail for free in Paris, the Gunners have been getting better with every passing match since. It is a run of form built on sun-bursting effort from the front four back. Don’t underestimate Hector Bellerin’s contribution to our furious attacking in recent weeks made possible by the tremendous job that Shkodran Mustafi has been doing alongside/behind him.
Arsene’s goalkeeper and back four is surely a given. A recall for Petr Cech behind a back four that has enabled consecutive blank sheets and reduced Diego Costa to pathetic petulance last Saturday. Their performance ensured the West Londoners didn’t get back into the game when making rare breaks into Arsenal territory last weekend.
The pairing in front of them is up in the air after a remarkable recovery by Francis Coquelin from his knee-knack against Chelsea which prompted a typical Arsenal “three weeks out” prognosis earlier this week.Β With no need to rush a player back under such circumstances it is likely that Granit Xhaka will get to partner Santi Cazorla, isn’t it?
With an international break coming I wouldn’t expect to see any change to the front four. We may have some decisions to make when players have travelled back to us but for now Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil, Alex Iwobi, and Alexis, are so on fire that leaving any one of them out when important points are up for grabs would be unthinkable. Give them the opportunity to show that recent performances can be replicated, that they have allied confidence with application. Nobody in the Premiership is more potent right now.
It looks as though Dyche spent his small budget wisely in the summer onΒ Jeff Hendrick and Steven Defour. Both have been linked with bigger clubs. Burnley will, however, be without key man Andre Gray for ill-advised comments made on Twitter four years ago. The FA moves in mysterious ways but taking so long to take action doesn’t show the governing body in the best light. (Nor the player himself, lest that thought is misinterpreted.)
The ‘holic pound
I have to listen again to what I said on this week’s A Bergkamp Wonderland podcast. You can help me perhaps?
Ok, so I am on 0-3 to the Arsenal, and I apologise for Gimli’s abusive response! I have found that available at nines which seems a tad skinny for an away team but we are in cracking form and bookmakers are not charities!
Those who are making the journey to an area of the country that a good friend refers to in less than complimentary terms, that I don’t use here, enjoy the pies and I pray you find some drinkable beers. Please let the boys put on yet another impressive and utterly enjoyable performance for you.
And to the rest of the ‘holics, as ever, have a great one.
68 Responses to “Someone Has To Win At Burnley This Season, Don’t They?”
Cunt corner ahoy!
That’s the one, Tone. I thought you would recognise it. βΊοΈ
GET IN THE HOLE!
I got Cameron Jerome and Norwich 2-1 in a scorecast earlier, ‘h, which paid a piffling 35/1. It should have been 35/1 for Jerome to score first, the clumping lump of lard.
Great piece on Arsene, Holic and a worthy preview to match that!
Will certainly not be a walk in the park but hey we are the Arsenal and from what we have witnessed so far we should be able to say that three points are in the bag already, however we know too well we have to earn it first so fingers crossed for tomorrow!
One game at a time onwards and upwards!
COYG! π
Clarets vs Reds ……
Is this a football preview or a wine appraisal ?
Either way we’ll be tannin a few hides come Sunday afternoon.
Nines on 0-3, Holic ?
That has to be worth a roll of the Dyche ?
Good one Goonerholic.
3 – 1 to the Arse!
Spuds draw with Citeh @ home!
Back to our spot of second in the league!
Sweet! ?
UTA!
AFCOF!
The Arsenal game, somewhat miraculously, seems for just the second time this season to be scheduled to play on my TV box so needless to say I will be watching. COYG pummel the grape juice out of those Clarets.
Three goals and three points for us sounds good to me.
UTA.
Cheers H!
Fine preview Guvna. Sounds like the likely team selection. Here’s hoping the team can maintain their first half standards and deliver the points and your 0-3 reward.
TOOAW
Holic
I’ve found the Ryder Cup compulsive too but as I will arrive in America as it ends I hope lightning strikes twice after Medinah. I’m not optimistic though. And some of those spectators must be leaving a lot of villages without idiots.
I think you’re spot on with the likely team but I only fancy a narrow 1-0 win. But you get three points for that. Nice preview as ever
Excellent preview, Holic. Good to see a team that picks itself with a shedload of talent sitting in the wings. I went up to Burnley for this game two seasons ago and although that season ended in relegation for them, it was a tight game – thus I’m somewhat disappointed to see that you’ve strayed from that old banker 1-2 π
Will need double screens tonight. Tough final day amongst the baying hordes for Rory and the boys.
Enjoy both.
Morning and thank you all. π
Nice punt Cynic π
And puntastic, Trev. π
http://i.imgur.com/e2N7WeS.gifv
π
Bring on Burrrrrrrrnley..! Anticipate a tough match and looking forward to it.
I saw Burnley play Watford on TV and was impressed by the way they outplayed Watford. They are strong in the air and we can expect plenty of long balls floated into our box. They are also very good at set pieces. The sort of match where Per would have been a great asset. Anticipate a tough match but we should prevail.
No time to take our foot off of the gas today!
3 points is a must!
UTA!
π π π
Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Cazorla, Xhaka, Walcott, Ozil, Iwobi, Alexis
Subs: Ospina, Gibbs, Gabriel, Holding, Reine-Adelaide, Elneny, Oxlade-Chamberlain
I’ve done the Charlie Nicholas special on Skybet. Alexis and Walcott to score and Burnley to get 50+ booking points. 80/1
There it is, the script to beat Man City. Press them all day long, just like they do.
The hated Celts pressed them as well on Wednesday in a CL game.
Come on.
Come ON!!!!!!
We appear to be in casual popping it about mode. Pity.
Beginning to like this Mustafi…
Come ON!!!
Hard game so far…
Dogshit performance so far. Where’s the pace gone?
That was close
Disjointed effort and closed down by a well drilled Burnley. Lucky to be even at half time. Need to improve big time in the second half.
what the duck was that! 45mins devoid of pretty much anything football
What a scrappy affair, we need to exploit our pace down the flanks instead of trying to pass the ball through a 10 man well drilled defence.
We need to change our game plan this 2nd half.
COYRs
COME ON!!
We need to take more shots come on
Arsene not happy
Xhaka It!
π
And too rightly so come on lads pick it up
They are all behind the ball with five lined at the back close to the six yard box, very tight and organised. Plus they are taller than our relatively short forward line. So even passing from the flanks looks ineffective. Hope we can break through.
Good save from Czech
Should have been a yellow
Sanchez blocked off but the ref does not even give a foul let alone a card.
Put Girouod on!
Wait.. he’s out injured isn’t he?
COME ON!!
One of those horrible games where we are playing stupid little triangles and the tempo is so slow that even when Burnely do come out a bit, they have loads of time to get nine men back behind the ball when they lose it.
Hit the defender’s hand… but would be a harsh penalty …
Close miss Alexis. COYG?
Alexis hit the post.. ohhhh!
COME ON!!!
Close shave, almost conceded.
Let Santi take the free kick.. he’s due on anytime now.
Fuck me!
But Charlie Nicholas couldn’t tip shit out of a wheelbarrow.
Kos on the bell!!!!’mm
Never in doubt!
π
Thesea re the moments that win you a league!
Come on you beauties!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s Koscielny’s goal for me.
Cannot believe it, we have the three points. Suck it Burnley.
Get in Gunners!
Alexis and the boss very happy as are we all, especially the ones who made it to Turf Moor.
Great anniversary AW. Thanks for everything. Must have broken a lot of spud hearts.
Commentators here in Indonesia saying that when Kos touched the ball he was in an offside position for the goal. I need to see it again, but real delight at the death! Reminds me of Vermaelen’s last second winner against Newcastle some 4 years back. COYG!
Three points, so we can gloss over the rest.
And given that Craig Pawson hardly gave a decision our way all game it is remarkable he didn’t rule Kos’s winner to be handball.
Derrick: Kos definitely onside.
http://arsenalist.com/f/2016-17/burnley-vs-arsenal/goaaaal-alex-oxlade-chamberlain-0-1.html
Those may be a valuable two points come the end of the season.
We will have to be prepared now for playing against two banks of four close to the opposition 18 yard box against teams from the bottom half of the table. When teams see us playing the way we did against Chelsea and Basel, they immediately decide to cramp the middle and defend deep.
Alexis was indefatigable today and he almost unlocked the Burnley defence a few times by cleverly dropping deep and playing on the half turn. Also the kind of game that Iwobi will learn a lot from.
All in all a very satisfactory 3 points and a bit of a fortuitous clean sheet. Credit to the team for not giving up until the last second and reaping the rewards of their perseverance. We went really close a couple of times in the second half and given our domination of the second half – it has to be said that we just about deserved the three points.
On the button NBN, the ref screwed us all game except, fortunately, when it mattered most. The players appeared tired after the effort in the two matches against Chelsea and Basle but credit to the players for persevering.
The mark of a really good side. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Thanks NBN, it didn’t appear offside in real time as well. Just goes to show local commentators can be real daft here.
Very important 3 points in the end, especially after our big win last week to keep a momentum going can be crucial in our interesting run of games in October.
What would we do without Alexis, by far the best player today.
Handsgoal! I’ll take it anytime, anyday. Important point for team’s confidence.
COYG!
Was that a hand ball by Kosser? My word that was lucky but you have to give it to Burnley they defended with their lives and almost made us pay!
Three point in the bag that is all that matters!
UTA!