Burn notice

Arsenal travel to Turf Moor to face Burnley this afternoon, looking to build on the momentum of last week's win at home to Norwich.

There seems to be a weird misconception about Arsenal struggling against the clarets, but other than being stylistically different, the stats don't back up that thinking. Aside from the 1-0 defeat last December at the Emirates, we have not lost against these opponents in the league since 1974 - a run of 15 games. This includes a streak of 10 consecutive wins between March 2010 and August 2019, conceding only 5 in the process. When looking at fixtures exclusively at Turf Moor, it's 9 league games without tasting defeat, a run of 4 wins and 5 draws stretching back to 1973. 

I mentioned the stylistic differences between the two teams, but it is also something that almost works as an Advantage, because with Burnley, you always know what you are going to get. It's going to be 4-4-2. Its going to be two big men up top. It's going to be crosses raining in. And it is going to be a battle in the midfield. 

It's with that midfield battle in mind that I wasn't surprised to see Thomas Partey not start last week's win. You'd much rather go in to this match with a fully fit, or as close to it as possible, Partey as possible to help us get a hold of the middle of the pitch early on. I also think that in spite of his atrocious record against Burnley last season , Mikel Arteta would like to have the experience of Granit Xhaka available for this one. Say what you will about Xhaka, he does seem to have struck up a decent partnership with the Ghanaian in the games we have seen them combine.

Elsewhere on the absentee front, only Rob Holding is added to the injury list from last week, joining Mo Elneny in the treatment room. 

I fully expect then the line up to be largely similar to last week. I think we will see Partey come in and replace Ainsley Maitland-Niles being a logical switch. When your best central midfielder is fit he plays, simple as that. I also think we will see Smith-Rowe replace Pepe. This may be something we see a lot during the season, with the two rotating depending on the opponent. We are going to need to work very hard out of possession today and although Pepe currently offers more of a goal threat, I don't think anyone cold argue that ESR is the harder worker out of possession. This does of course mean that again we have a strong bench from an attacking point of you, with Pepe, Lacazette and Martinelli all waiting in the wings. Tomiyasu should get his second arsenal start, and his 6'2" frame will be no doubt be needed an awful lot, as Sean Dyche will no doubt have Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes targeting the smaller Ben White. Although white had a much more solid game in the air last week, it will take a bit more than 1 game against Norwich to erase the memories of opening night and his struggles with Ivan Toney.

A couple of days ago I touched on the physicality of Burnley when discussing refereeing, in particular I mentioned the James Tarkowski tackle on Richarlison,  Ashley Barnes did something similar to Patrick Bamford, and Jurgen Klopp had plenty to say about the "wrestling" of Burnley following Liverpool's 2-0 win at Anfield. Incredibly though, they have managed to go 93 top flight games without a red card, a record which seems almost unfathomable considering the style of play that is employed by Sean Dyche and his charges. The perception seems to be that his team plays good, honest, old-school English football, whereas everyone else is foreign soft touches. This is something that I fully expect to rear its head again today, but hopefully it does not have a detrimental effect on the result, we can continue our outstanding record against these opponents, and continue building momentum heading in to next week's North London Derby.