Finally, after a topsy turvy battle of 90 minutes, Mikel Arteta was successful in leaving Turf Moor with a broad smile on his face as a screamer from Martin Odegaard helped the Gunners to sink a lackadaisical Burnley.
In a battle of desperation, Arsenal made the tour to Turf Moor seeking three points against a victory-strapped Burnley. Though the initial twenty minutes seemed uneventful, Arsenal turned the heat on by bits and pieces with runs down the center from Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.
The story of Arsenal at Turf Moor
Even before the season started, there was intense drama surrounding Odegaard with Real Madrid not willing to sell the Norwegian. However, all is well that ends well and the Gunners managed to snap him up in the dying moments.
It was one of those screaming runs from Saka that compelled Ashley Westwood’s cumbersome hand in hacking him to the ground. The referee awarded a free-kick instantly after booking Westwood and the resultant free-kick was lasered into the top-right corner by Odegaard giving Arsenal the slenderest glimmer of hope that they could latch onto.
However, this goal from Arsenal galvanized the Clarets with a unified purpose of staging a comeback. The attacks against the visitors started getting more frequent and it needed a valiant showdown from Gabriel in the back to stave away an adventurous Burnley.
The late drama that could have changed everything for Arteta and Arsenal
All the diligence showed by the Gunners could have gone down the drain as a moment of madness from Ramsdale brought Vydra down in the Arsenal penalty box.
However, VAR observed that the Arsenal custodian made contact with the ball first and that vacillated the penalty kick given in the first place. The final whistle helped the hosts to walk away with bragging rights and bag their second consecutive victory after a dampened start to the campaign.
Despite the victory, the thing that would bother them a lot is that two of their star players, Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey had to be subbed after the duo showed some initial hobbling.
Arteta shared an update clarifying the substitutions, stating that both the players had cramps while the game progressed and the Gunners will need all the strength that they can produce at the moment.
Hence, this will bring a bit of reprieve for all the fans who were worried about the availability status of this duo. With a couple of important ties coming up in a short span of time, Arsenal will like to rally all their strength to continue with their resurgence.
