Leandro Trossard scored our 1,000th goal at Emirates Stadium, before William Saliba and Alex Zinchenko added second-half to earn all three points against Burnley.
Trossard went in bravely at the far post to break the deadlock at the end of the first half, and although the visitors briefly drew level through a deflected Josh Brownhill effort, we deservedly wrapped up the points thanks to our prowess at setpieces.
Saliba headed home Trossard’s corner, before Zinchenko acrobatically scored our third, when another dangerous corner wasn’t fully cleared.
We finished the game with ten men after Fabio Vieira was shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on Brownhill, but we saw out time comfortably to extend our unbeaten home run and move up to second place.
Building slowly
After a moving rendition of The Last Post, and reading of Ode of Remembrance, we got play under way on a sunny, autumnal afternoon in north London.
Gabriel headed over a corner early on, but the first effort on target came from the hosts – Zeki Amdouni’s long range effort was turned behind by David Raya.
We first made James Trafford work when Bukayo Saka was alive to a loose ball in the box, and lashed a right-footed shot first time towards the top corner, but the young Burnley keeper pushed the shot onto the bar and away.
We were beginning to warm to our task, and create more chances. The twinkle-toed Alex Zinchenko set up Saka inside the area and his low cross was scrambled away, before Saka was penalised for a shove in the box when Jordan Beyer’s header looked to be lopping into his own goal.
Burnley were soaking up the pressure, but served warning of their goal threat when Johann Gudmundsson drew a good low save from Raya when he broke through centrally.
Trossard was next to try his luck for us. Declan Rice snapped into a challenge in midfield to win the ball and release Kai Havertz. He found the Belgian on the edge of the box, and his dipping effort was tipped over.
Trossard scores 1,000th Emirates goal
As the seconds ticked away to half-time, we finally made the breakthrough.
Saka won another dangerous cross into the box from Zinchenko, and headed towards Trossard at the far post. The Belgian kept his eye on the ball despite being challenged by Trafford, to nod home from close range.
As he received treatment on the floor, the Emirates faithful celebrated the 1,000th goal we’ve scored at the stadium since moving here in 2006.
More significantly, it put us ahead after a patient first-half performance.
Lead lost and regained
But the lead was erased early in the second half. The lively Luca Koleosho got the better of Takehiro Tomiyasu on the left, caused confusion with his cross, and Josh Brownhill saw his shot beat Raya with the aid of a deflection from Gabriel.
We responded instantly. Gabriel Martinelli streaked away on the left and fired his shot at Trafford at the near post. From the resulting corner from Trossard, Saliba got in front of the keeper to thud home a header at close range.
Rice fired just wide from 25 yards before we finally secured a two-goal cushion. Trossard’s corners had been coughing problems all afternoon, and another delivered into a dangerous area bounced against the bar off a Burnley defender, before falling to Zinchenko, who improvised brilliantly to volley into the top corner. It was a lovely finish.
Just like Saliba’s, it was the Ukrainian’s first goal at the Emirates. It gave us some breathing room, but our task was made more difficult again when substitute Vieira was sent off for a studs high challenge on Brownhill.
Down to ten men, we had more defending to do in the closing stages, but we saw out the remaining ten minutes or so with little cause for alarm, and in fact finished with nine, when Jorginho was taken off with a head injury deep into stoppage time.
What’s next
The international players will now join up with their respective national teams for the last international break of the year. We are back in action in two weeks’ time, away to Brentford in the Premier League.
1,000 goals at Emirates Stadium
Our first goal was the 1,000th our men’s first team have scored at Emirates Stadium since it opened 17 years ago.
Gilberto Silva scored our very first, in the first game, against Aston Villa back on August 19, 2006. Since then we’ve scored our goals at a rate 2.11 per game, and it took 473 matches to reach the landmark.
Robin van Persie is the top scorer at the stadium, with 64 goals for us, while the leading scorer in the current squad for home games is Eddie Nketiah with 25. The 1,000 goals have been shared between 97 different players, not including own goals.
Of the 103 different teams we’ve faced at the Emirates, Tottenham have been on the receiving end more frequently than any other visitors (52 goals conceded), and 128 of the goals have come in the Champions League, compared to 684 in the Premier League, 66 in the League Cup, 61 in the Europa League and 60 in the FA Cup.
Mikel Arteta, who scored goal number 500, has been manager for 189 goals, compared to 719 under Arsène Wenger, 90 under Unai Emery, and one while Freddie Ljungberg was in charge.
Look out for a full in-depth analysis of the 1,000 goals on Arsenal.com coming soon.
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