Misfiring Gunners suffer blow

Arsenal lost ground in the race for the top four as they were held to a goalless draw by Burnley at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners dominated the game, attempting 20 shots and having 76 per cent of the possession, but bottom side Burnley, who had not played a Premier League fixture in three weeks due to Covid postponements, defended resolutely to claim a valuable point.

Arsenal struggled to convert their dominance into clear chances and on the rare occasions they did prise the visitors open, their finishing was poor, with Alexandre Lacazette spurning their best chance when he sent an Emile Smith Rowe cut-back wide with the goal gaping.

“We created a number of situations, shots, crosses,” said Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta afterwards. “But to win this match you need to have a different level of quality, and we lacked that today.”

Lacazette was not the only one guilty of wastefulness, however, as Arsenal made it five games without a win in all competitions since the turn of the year, leaving them two points behind fourth-placed Manchester United – albeit with a game in hand.

Martin Odegaard and Smith Rowe were denied by Nick Pope, who impressed in goal for the visitors, while Bukayo Saka fired wide when he should have hit the target shortly before half-time.

Arsenal’s only change from the Carabao Cup loss to Liverpool saw Rob Holding come in for Takehiro Tomiyasu. Ben White moved to right-back while Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey were suspended.

Misfiring Gunners suffer blow

Burnley made four changes from their last game, over two weeks ago, with Connor Roberts, Dwight McNeil, Erik Pieters and Matej Vydra all coming into the side.

Burnley rarely threatened from an attacking point of view but did go close to taking the lead inside the first 10 minutes, when Dwight McNeil’s left-wing cross-shot had to be acrobatically pushed over the bar by a scrambling Aaron Ramsdale.