Arsenal: 4 things we’d like to see vs Burnley

Arsenal boast a very favourable record against Burnley ever since they first made it up to the Premier League back in 2009. Yet every time they come up on the fixture list the ‘physical fear’ sets in that Arsenal will be bullied off the park.

Those concerns are more valid this time around given Mikel Arteta hasn’t secured victory over the Clarets in three attempts, but there is the caveat of Arsenal being dreadful for the vast majority of those minutes.

This time around there isn’t a great deal to suggest the team is distinctly improved. While victory over Norwich had positive elements, it came after three successive defeats to start the campaign and 90 minutes of football don’t constitute a turnaround.

Meanwhile, Sean Dyche’s side head into this one as one of the few sides below the Gunners in the Premier League table and also have the unwanted record of not tasting victory at Turf Moor in any of their previous 12 league encounters. Now, that reads a bit better.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1438150640723795976

Arsenal: 4 things we’d like to see from Mikel Arteta’s against Burnley in the Premier League meeting at Turf Moor on Saturday

He has just been handed a shiny new four-year deal, though. Will that spark some form of response?

Arsenal can only focus on their own performance intermittent with having the shape and tactical plan to nullify Burnley’s threats en route. It shouldn’t be a case of ‘how can we stop Burnley?’ and more a case of ‘how can we beat Burnley and keep them at bay throughout?’ instead.

This was one of the matches in a favourable run of fixtures that Arsenal sorely needed to find some form in. Facing Norwich, Burnley, AFC Wimbledon, Tottenham and Brighton ahead of the second international break, with Crystal Palace and Aston Villa to follow that, there is real scope for the table to look vastly improved come the end of October.

And as warming of a feeling there was from beating Norwich, we won’t know if that was a corner turned or the start of something less bleak until the next few matches are concluded.

Starting with Burnley, there are a few things we’d like to see from the performance.

1. Smith Rowe, Saka, Odegaard & Aubameyang Clicking

This is the front four.

While Nicolas Pepe may keep his place for Turf Moor, the expected lack of space in behind suggests he might not be the right option for the match. Besides, with these four all fit and firing they make up the best of what Arsenal have.

They took to the field against Manchester City with forgettable results, and while everything about that match was unacceptable we can, with some hesitation, scratch that one off as sample of their effectiveness.

When the four were clicking it worked last season and one of the most important elements of a season where the Premier League is the primary objective is continuity. If Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Emile Smith Rowe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can find a balance of penetration and creation across the campaign it will not only get the best out of the latter, but the best out of Arsenal.

Finding symmetry in who attacks the box, who drops off to facilitate and who finds pockets of space in between the lines is the key here and if that can be as successful as everyone has envisaged in their minds, then it will be joyous to watch.

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