Arsenal Vs Burnley: 5 things we learned – End on a high

3. Relish the physical battle

Burnley played like a team that wanted to rough Arsenal up. They were always going to. Any smart manager of a lesser team would do the same. There is a reason Troy Deeney said that there is a way to play against the Gunners. Because there is, and it is the way in which he described: challenge them physically and see how they respond.

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That is what Sean Dyche’s side did here. Most of the time, it was fair. But there were some instances were more protection should have been afforded, most notably when Chris Wood shoved Laurent Koscielny over the advertising hoardings.

Arsenal, though, to their credit, dealt with Burnley’s physicality well. There were times when the defence looked a little timid, Burnley’s goal a key example, but Bernd Leno, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Alex Iwobi and even Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were all happy to step up to the physical questions that Burnley posed them.

The away troubles of this team are well-known. I am sure Dyche was licking his lips. But here, they did not wilt like against Everton or Wolves or Leicester. They stood strong, met the challenge, mostly, and won the game, even if they had to rely on a bit of luck.