How we turned the tide against Burnley

Burnley had the upper hand in the first half at Turf Moor on Sunday.

Arsene Wenger admitted as much, and our players echoed that point when they spoke after the match.

Burnley’s aerial threat was clear from the start but - at first - we didn’t close down effectively when the home side looked to deliver crosses into the box.

“We had to change the way we set up defensively a little bit because we were giving them a lot of time on the ball,” Hector Bellerin told Arsenal.com.

“It was about pressing a bit higher and making the space a little bit shorter for them. I think it worked.

“It’s a game that we thought would be really hard,” he added. “We know that they play good football and have a very clear philosophy in the way that they play, so we knew it was going to be tough especially defensively.

“We knew there would be lots of long balls and lots of physicality. We knew we would get our chances, defending compact, and because of that we got a reward. Credit to them, they played good football and they made it really hard for us.”

And how about that penalty? Bellerin admitted he didn’t see it clearly enough to make an instant judgement.

“I was a bit far away from the situation but I knew there were a lot of people in the box at that time,” he said. “Sometimes there’s a lot of grabbing inside the box, so I’m sure the referee had a better view than me. I will have a look later.”