We’ll be aiming to string together a fifth successive victory at Burnley on Saturday afternoon, and record a piece of club history in the process.
We’ve never won our first five league matches in a calendar year, but after netting 16 goals in our last four matches, that’s the prize on offer at Turf Moor - a venue we’ve never lost at during the Premier League era.
Wins have been in short supply for the Clarets who are without one in seven games, meaning only goal difference is keeping them off the foot of the table. To make matters worse, they’ll be without Vincent Kompany on the touchline after he picked up a third yellow card of the campaign in their 3-1 defeat at Liverpool last weekend.
Kompany's home discomforts
After romping their way to the Championship title last term with only three losses to their name, there has been a lot less for Burnley fans to celebrate this term upon their return to the Premier League, with the same amount of wins recorded so far.
Their home form will have to improve if they’re to beat the drop, having claimed just five points in their 12 league matches at Turf Moor. They became only the second side in English league history to lose all of their first seven home matches of a campaign before bouncing back to wallop fellow strugglers Sheffield United 5-0 in early December.
Just one other win has come from their subsequent 10 league games when they beat Fulham later that month, with a leaky defence shipping their 50th goal in the division already this term at Anfield. They are also yet to beat a team starting the day in the top half of the table, but huge games against Crystal Palace and Bournemouth will follow our visit.
What the managers say
Arteta: "It’s the most important part of the season and we know that every fixture is going to play a significant role in what we want to achieve. Burnley is the most important one at the moment, a team that is extremely difficult to beat.
"You look at the results and how teams have drawn or beaten them and it’s been through very small margins. They’re extremely well coached, a team that is very competitive so we know that we have a very tough match on Saturday and that’s the only focus for us - to continue to play with the same energy and enthusiasm and play the game, compete in the game in the best way possible and the rest will come."
Read every word from Mikel’s pre-match press conference here.
Kompany: "These sort of teams have always got tools to hurt you and we need to make sure we make use of our moments that we create. We have faced a lot of the top, top teams in the last couple of weeks and it hasn't changed from when we played Spurs, City, Liverpool, you do need something to go your way on the day.
"It has to be belief. There is no magic recipe for this game. They have incredible players in every position but we can be difficult to play against sometimes and we need that on Saturday. It's practice and belief together, you have to believe that the next time you are in a situation to score in, you find the back of the net."
Team news
Emile Smith Rowe missed the trip to West Ham United after rolling his ankle in training and it remains to be seen if he recovers in time for this one. There could also be late calls on Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf), Gabriel Jesus (knee) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knock).
Jurrien Timber remains out, while Thomas Partey is "progressing really well," according to Mikel Arteta in his pre-match press conference. “[Fabio Vieira] is very close," Mikel added. "He's been training already for a few days with the team, so he'll be back probably faster than we expected and he's in a good place.”
For Burnley, Lyle Foster is a doubt having missed the trip to Anfield last weekend with a muscle injury. Charlie Taylor and Jordan Beyer have both been out for a month with shoulder and hamstring issues respectively, but Taylor could feature having been close to returning against Liverpool.
Hot prospect Luca Koleosho is out long-term with a knee injury, joining Nathan Redmond on the sidelines who has undergone hamstring surgery.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke: Vincent Kompany likes to deploy a 4-4-2, and even though Burnley are in trouble towards the foot of the table he still prefers an attacking style of play rather than being tactically pragmatic. Where possible he always wants his players to take positive actions.
It has cost the Clarets a number of goals this season, but their high-profile head coach remains committed to playing out from the back, building through the thirds with short passing.
When it comes off, Burnley have technically strong individuals who can produce quality inside the opposition half, but they have been consistently vulnerable to the press. Knowing this, I would expect Mikel Arteta to encourage us to pressurise the home players at every opportunity to force turnover situations.
Set pieces have been a real issue for Burnley. They have conceded 12 so far this term, the second most in the division, and that includes two against the Gunners at Emirates Stadium.
William Saliba scored in the reverse fixture when sneaking in front of goalkeeper James Trafford unopposed, on a day where five of our 10 best chances according to xG were from set pieces.
Burnley are not always easy to break down. Six top-flight sides have faced fewer shots in open play. Their pressing can be effective, and they also rely on the pace of Dara O’Shea when they become stretched. The Irish centre-back is the third-fastest player in the Premier League in 2023-24.
Burnley’s danger man could be loan striker David Fofana. The lively frontman, who recently joined from Chelsea, is sharp on the ball and capable of creating chances for himself. In just three appearances, two from the bench, Fofana has scored twice and made an assist.
Facts and stats
Burnley have won just one of their 17 Premier League games against us, with that win coming at the Emirates Stadium in December 2020.
We have never lost an away Premier League game against Burnley (eight matches), with only Chelsea visiting Turf Moor more often in the competition without ever tasting defeat.
Burnley have scored just nine goals in their 17 Premier League games against us, and never more than once in a match. It’s the most one side has faced another in the competition without ever netting multiple goals.
We haven’t lost any of our 10 Premier League games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday since the start of last season, winning each of the last four. Our last such defeat came against Southampton in April 2022.
Only Bruno Fernandes (70) has created more chances in the Premier League this season than Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard (61 each). In his career, Odegaard is creating a chance every 37 minutes for his Gunners teammates in the competition - the only two Arsenal players with a better mins-per-chance created ratio are Mesut Ozil (every 27 mins) and Cesc Fabregas (every 32 mins).
Kai Havertz has scored more Premier League goals against Burnley than he has against any other side (3).
Gabriel Jesus has been directly involved in 12 goals across his last 10 Premier League games against newly promoted sides (5 goals, 7 assists). The Brazilian also has five goal involvements in his last five games against Burnley.
Match officials
Australian Jarred Gillet has been handed his sixth Gunners game, and his second this season following our 1-0 loss at Aston Villa in December. We have won three of the previous five.
Gillet has only refereed Burnley once this season when they fell to a 1-0 defeat at Wolves. He has shown two red cards and awarded four penalties in his 11 top-flight outings this term.
Referee: Jarred Gillett
Assistants: Darren Cann, Dan Robathan
Fourth official: Simon Hooper
VAR: Paul Tierney
Assistant VAR: Scott Ledger
Recent trips to Turf Moor
The traditional old stadium has been a happy hunting ground for us over the years, and we have yet to lose in the Premier League there in eight meetings. In fact, you have to go back to December 1973 for the last time we lost a league game at the home of the Clarets.
The last occasion saw us claim a slender 1-0 victory in September 2021 when a Martin Odegaard free-kick separated the sides. Six months earlier, the teams played out a 1-1 draw when Chris Wood cancelled out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s early opener, which was the second successive draw following on from a 0-0 draw in February 2020.
A memorable match saw us claim a 3-1 win at Turf Moor on the final day of the previous campaign when Aubameyang netted the brace that saw him claim the Golden Boot and Eddie Nketiah bagged his first Premier League goal.
See highlights of that game, plus other great wins in Lancashire from down the years.
Breakdown Live
Tune into Arsenal.com and the official app 30 minutes before kick-off for all the best coverage of the game, which isn’t being shown live in the UK.
Nick Bright and Adrian Clarke will be live and giving you everything you need to know about our opponents and the keys to unlocking three points.
There will also be immediate reaction to Arsenal Women’s match against Manchester United earlier in the day, and a look back at our big win against West Ham United last weekend.
Then from 3pm, live commentary comes from Dan Roebuck and Josh James who will be in situ at Turf Moor to bring you the best of the action.
You can also find out what broadcasters are showing the game wherever you are in the world
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