Match Report – Match Highlights – Post-Match Press Conference

Final Result: Arsenal 3-1 Burnley (Trossard 46′, Saliba 57′, Zinchenko 74′)

Arsenal XI (4-3-3): Raya; Zinchenko, Saliba, Gabriel, White; Rice, Jorginho, Havertz (F. Vieira 59′); Martinelli (Kiwior 89′), Saka (Nelson 81′), Trossard (Nketiah 81′)

Following the comfortable win over Sevilla, Mikel Arteta rallied his troops for another bout with struggling Burnley, so it wasn’t going to be a stroll in the park.

Arsenal had an enforced change with Ben White picking up a knock, and had to be replaced by Takehiro Tomiyasu with Oleksandr Zinchenko featuring in his favored inverted left back position.

Burnley drew for first blood when Zaki Amdouni latched onto a loose pass from the defense, before blasting a low drive that was saved superbly by David Raya. Arsenal responded with Bukayo Saka stung James Trafford’s palm with a fierce shot. Saka swung in a deep corner that was headed off the mark by Kai Havertz.

Burnley had another chance when William Saliba inadvertently fed Johann Gudmunsson but Raya was on hand to make a good save. On the other end, Trafford showed great concentration to make a very good save from a Leandro Trossard drive.

At the stroke of half time, Arsenal went ahead when Zinchenko lofted a cross and that was bravely nodded to the danger area by Saka. Trossard put his body on the line to anticipate the ball and headed it in from point blank range before smashing the woodwork with his arm. It was a very for Trossard to score but it came at a cost.

Arsenal took their foot off the pedal and allowed Koleosho a chance to run at Tomiyasu. The Japanese defender tried to guard the ball from Koleosho and made a complete mess of it, which led to a goalmouth scramble that saw Josh Brownhill fire a shot that cannoned off Gabriel before beating Raya in the Arsenal goal.

Arsenal continued the pressure and finally got the lead when Saliba nodded the ball home from point range from Trossard’s corner. Declan Rice almost scored a similar technically astute finish with a sweet curler that missed with a lick of paint.

However, the contest was over when another dangerous Arsenal corner saw the ball clip the cross bar and after some pinball in the box, Zinchenko scored with an improvised finish. Fabio Vieira’s unfortunate red card put his team on the lurch but they defended well to keep the scoreline intact.

There was an injury scare for Gabriel Martinelli late on, but he will have the entirety of the international break to recover.

Sayonara.

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