The Gunners returned to winning ways with an easy victory on home soil.
Arsenal defeated Burnley 3-1 in their Premier League game on Saturday. A solid display in the second half was enough for the Gunners to leapfrog Tottenham from the second spot on the table.
What happened?
Arsenal quickly established their dominance over the possession, but James Trafford’s saves prevented Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka from scoring the opener. The Gunners had to wait until just before the half-time whistle to finally break the deadlock through Leandro Trossard.
After the break, it was Burnley who managed to find the back of the net, making it 1-1 through Josh Brownhill’s deflected shot from inside the box.
However, it took the Gunners only three minutes to restore their lead through William Saliba. This time, Trossard provided the assist with a perfect corner as the French centre-back nodded the ball home from close range.
Arsenal kept the pressure on Burnley’s backline after the goal, finally putting the victory to bed in the 74th minute. Oleksandr Zinchenko smashed a powerful volley into the upper corner of the net to make it 3-1 for the hosts.
The Gunners went down a man when Fabio Vieira was sent off with a straight red card in the 83rd minute. But it was already too late for Burnley to mount a comeback.
Arsenal vs Burnley: Man of the Match
Trossard deserves the Man of the Match title after his brilliant performance in the absence of Arsenal’s regular strikers. The Belgian star scored his side’s first goal before producing an assist for Salbia later on.
Player Ratings
Arsenal: Raya (7); Tomiyasu (7), Saliba (7), Gabriel (7), Zinchenko (9); Havertz (6), Jorginho (7), Rice (6); Saka (8), Trossard (9), Martinelli (7).
Bench: Vieira (4), Nelson (6), Nketiah (5), Kiwior (6).
Burnley: Trafford (6); Vitinho (5), O’Shea (5), Beyer (6), Taylor (6); Gudmundsson (6), Berge (7), Brownhill (7), Koleosho (4); Rodriguez (6), Amdouni (5).
Bench: Ramsey (6), Bruun Larsen (5), Obafemi (6), Odobert (6).