Arsenal: 4 negatives of hard fought Burnley win

Two wins on the bounce and another clean sheet. While 1-0 at home against Norwich is not a resounding result, that same scoreline would surely have been taken ahead of Arsenal travelling to Burnley.

At Turf Moor this is always a tight encounter despite the home side’s poor record against the Gunners, with Saturday’s meeting being no different. One kick of Martin Odegaard’s left foot turned out to be the deciding factor.

The road ahead will be a bumpy one. Even in the last two outings it’s not been smooth sailing.

Mikel Arteta will see this as a new dawn for Arsenal Football Club and his job is to get the fans on board with what it is he’s trying to build. Fielding a starting lineup with an average age of 24 and having all six of his summer signings on the pitch at the end, showing character and dedication along the way, is one way of doing that.

4 negatives as Arsenal battle hard to win 1-0 over Burnley in the Premier League as Mikel Arteta’s side secure back-to-back victories

So too are victories which, let’s be honest, are the most important of all.

But the performances need to show signs of improvement and while there were clear positives to take from leaving a tricky ground with three Premier League points, not everything on show in Lancashire was as neat and tidy as the manager would have liked.

With a few days’ rest before a very different looking side will take to the Emirates pitch in the EFL Cup meeting with AFC Wimbledon before Tottenham make the short journey south for a crunch derby, there were a few elements of the 1-0 win that weren’t quite as comforting.

1. Stupid Decision Making in the Final Third

Fingers can be pointed at individuals, and there were a few very guilty of baffling decisions, but collectively on Saturday there was something lacking in the final third that prevented Arsenal from putting the game out of sight and easing the tension in the ground.

The ball managed to get its way into dangerous positions with Odegaard pulling the strings in midfield and finding the right first time passes into space, only for the final ball, final shot or final choice of pass to leave plenty to be desired.

In terms of the build up and the runs, the play wasn’t the dreadful, staggered and laborious style usually seen and instead came down to the minute details.

Pepe was guilty of lacking conviction in his passes as were others, with there being a repeat number of times where the final ball was a yard behind the man making a run. They were passes that if nailed would have been fine goalscoring chances.

An off day? Likely, but it’s also worth noting that Burnley leave their grass long and dry on purpose. Ben White was a victim of it (doesn’t exempt him from blame) for the backpass to Aaron Ramsdale and it can be attributed to the host of misplaced balls in the final third.

Overall the forwards were lacking that touch of composure.

Continued…