Kevin Whitcher
Neutrals will have a lot of sympathy for Sean Dyche if they watched the two matches his side played against Arsenal this season. Beaten by last minute goals on both occasions, neither of which should have stood. However, in the unlikely event that Arsenal do manage to win the title this season (okay, okay, but the title race is not mathematically dead just yet, so bear with me), a series of narrow wins and draws snatched from the jaws of defeat will be looked back upon with gratitude by Gooners. Aside from Burnley, there was the late penalty against Southampton, Giroud’s injury time leveler at Bournemouth, the draw at Old Trafford and managing to hang on with ten men against bogey side Swansea at home.
Of course, the excitement of a late winner and renewed belief is familiar territory. Danny Welbeck’s winner against Leicester last February, anyone? Arsenal were much closer to the leaders that day. The gap to Chelsea is eight points. The optimists are looking at Liverpool defeating Chelsea at Anfield, softening up Antonio Conte’s team for Arsenal to achieve a rare win at the Bridge the following Saturday. In the meantime, Arsenal need to take care of Watford at home. Put a tenner on that particular treble and I suspect you’d see a return of close to £100. For what it’s worth, I suspect Antonio Conte has picked apart the goals conceded in the defeat at Spurs and been working on his defence ever since. Chelsea will concede less than ten goals in their remaining 16 fixtures, and the re will be at least half a dozen 1-0 results in there. It’s what he did at Juventus, and he won a succession of titles there. It’s his first season in the Premier League, and he’s still learning, eight points clear of the chasing pack. Be careful what you wish for when you change manager, they tell me. This observer would just like less predictable seasons and greater hope.
On the subject of managers, Arsene Wenger compounded his red card for complaining to fourth official Anthony Taylor by then shoving him when Taylor told him he could not watch the remainder of injury time from the players’ tunnel. What would probably have been a one match absence from the dugout at St Mary’s next weekend, will surely now be extended, possibly until after the visit to Chelsea. Pushing refs is inadvisable, although the precedent is a fine and a two match ban for when Alan Pardew pushed a linesman in his time as Newcastle manager. What is interesting is how much passion Wenger shows to fourth officials when things go against his team. Perhaps this could be channeled in a more productive way, such as urging the players on when they are evidently slacking, or reminding Granit Xhaka not to make challenges that are going to ensure his team has to complete the game with ten men. As it is, the honest truth is that Wenger’s not being on the bench is unlikely to make any difference to the team, although if it does unshackle Steve Bould to do a bit of cajoling and earbashing, it may even prove beneficial… at least until Arsene tells him to stop doing it for fear of upsetting the players.
Jon Moss was the official in charge when Xhaka was sent off against Swansea at home earlier this season for what was a cynical hack to prevent a breakaway. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t dangerous either. It was a professional foul, but the official deemed it worthy of dismissal. There, one could make the argument that Xhaka was unfortunate, and took one for the team. Yesterday afternoon, his intentions were similar, to prevent a counter attack developing. He’d given the ball to Burnley’s Defour and knew his side were vulnerable. However, it was deep into the opposition half and there were players behind him. His challenge was a rush of blood to the head and once the referee consulted his linesman you had a feeling of what was to follow.
His absence going forward – presumably a three match ban, presents a dilemma for Arsenal. In recent games, pretty much everything has been going through Xhaka, and his partnership with Ramsey has improved with each game. Now, Arsenal have Coquelin and Ramsey. Ozil’s contribution will become more critical and there are justified fears he will lack influence at Chelsea.
There is a lot good about Xhaka’s game, but he can also be a liability with some of his decision making. The penalty for his shove at Bournemouth was just plain dumb. Of course, Patrick Vieira took a few reds in his earlier seasons at Arsenal before maturing and becoming the captain. Xhaka’s attitude is something that could prove an asset, but he has to control himself. At present, he is looking like he might prove an expensive mistake, but he has time to learn. He was fortunate his dismissals yesterday and against Swansea did not cost his team any points.
So that’s just two of the incidents. There was also 90 minutes plus of football somewhere in the mix. The first half saw a handful of ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ chances – generally distance efforts. Burnley, no surprise, sat deep and made life difficult for the home side.
After the interval, a breakthrough. No tippy-tappy tike taka, but a well delivered corner by Ozil to his mate Mustafi and a header into the far corner. 1-0 just before the hour, and suddenly, a game of football broke out. Xhaka’s dismissal with 25 minutes left on the clock gave the visitors more encouragement, and to add to the drama, panto villain Joey Barton entered the fray as a sub. A shame that he and Xhaka were not on the pitch at the same time as that could have made things even more entertaining.
Anyway, the clock ticked down, there was plenty of injury time (all justified due to the events of the second half) although here’s a tip for the manager from someone who has not worked half a day in football. If you are going to make late substitutions with the idea of eating up the clock, save them until injury time. The refs rarely extend it whatever happens after the board has gone up.
However, the extended added time actually worked in Arsenal’s favour yesterday. Once Burnley had equalized from the spot three minutes after the 90, the home side had enough time to fashion further attacks and win the penalty, fortunate that Koscielny was not flagged by the linesman. Cometh the man, cometh the moment. Alexis Sanchez and his dogs are the subject of a new banner in the stadium reading ‘Good Boys’ – a nice piece of humour from RedAction that the club have been good enough to indulge. But the visitors’ equalizer looked to have taken the gloss off of the Chilean’s day – he adopted his oft seen – woe is me and all around me – on his hunches pose as we awaited the re-start. But he took responsibility for the key penalty, meaning he would have no-one else to blame for the loss of two critical points were it not converted. And what a cool penalty it was. Cue euphoria.
It is actually quite tricky to put this kind of game into context. What does it say about the side in 2016/17? Both good and bad things. But the bottom line is that, for the most part, Arsenal have rode their luck this campaign. Whether or not they can continue to do this, time will tell. Burnley have taken a solitary point on their Premier League travels so far this season, which on paper should have made this a comfortable outing for Arsene Wenger’s team.
For Arsenal, with trips to Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, Stoke and Southampton to negotiate, the title challenge would have realistically been over had they failed to defeat Burnley. Eight points is a big enough gap, but ten points makes the mountain that much higher. As it is, hope remains. In less than a fortnight, we’ll have a good idea whether or not any optimism is justified. Swansea beat Liverpool on Saturday at Anfield. A demonstration of the unpredictability of football or what a difference a manager can make to a team? Which brings us back to Antonio Conte. Much as I’d like to see Arsene Wenger overtake him and win the title for Arsenal, I won’t be putting any money on it.
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