Arsenal v Burnley: Premier League – live! | Football

10 min Mee’s clearance hits Tarkowski and rebounds for the first corner of the game. Willian plays it short to Bellerin, and it’s a hot mess.

7 min That’s nice from Arsenal. Aubameyang pulls left to receive a long pass from Xhaka and then plays in the overlapping Tierney. His low cross is booted clear.

4 min It’s been a fairly tentative start. The first goal is always important but it feels even more significant tonight, if there is one.

2 min Both teams have started with a back four, as expected.

1 min Peep peep! Burnley, in their black away strip, kick off from right to left. Arsenal are in red and white, and there are precisely 2,000 fans at the Emirates.

Here come the players. It’s a rainy night in

Lyndhurst
north London, perfect for some slick football.

“Nicky Bandini, an Arsenal fan, referred to this match as a ‘relegation six-pointer’ on Football Weekly,” says Kári Tulinius. “Then she laughed and I laughed while listening. However, and call me a pessimistic Arsenal fan if you want, but should Arsenal not win tonight, the team really does have to start peering over its collective shoulder.”

Behave yourself. You’re still high on that Stuttgart win yesterday, aren’t you?

“Schadenfreude dictates I have to spend 90 minutes of my rapidly dwindling life watching this,” says Damian Durrant. “Alas, the unfolding I see is: Arsenal get off to a good start but fail to take their chances; in a moment of madness (insert name) is red carded. The ten-man Gunners hang on until the 85th minute when a defensive error sees the Clarets bundle the ball in to snatch victory. The phone rings at the mansion of Big Sam…”

That would be some redemption story. Imagine the emotional on-field embrace between the big man and Arsene Wenger as they celebrate Arsenal’s 14th league title in May 2022. Also, is it self-schadenfreude?

“Evening Rob,” says Tom Atkins. “Looking forward to Arsenal gaining some ground on their close rivals today. Always important to capitalise when those you’re competing with drop points. Yes, I’m confident we can get a result here and really start to pull away from Brighton.”

That it’s come to this.

“Talk amongst Arsenal fans is turning into the Quiz Show of Interminable Questions,” says Charles Antaki. “Why was Willian bought? Why is Xhaka playing ? Why aren’t Willock, Nketiah or Reiss Nelson starting? Why isn’t Aubameyang scoring? Why are we waiting? Why are we unhappy? The last one actually can be fairly easily answered, but the other ones are starting to rub the shine off the manager.”

I agree: Solskjaer out!

We’ll also have updates from Leicester v Brighton, which kicks off at the same time. A win would move Leicester to within a point of the top two, Spurs and Liverpool, who both drew today.

No alarms and no surprises on either side.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Elneny, Xhaka; Willian, Lacazette, Saka; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Runarsson, Mustafi, Ceballos, Maitland-Niles, Willock, Smith Rowe, Nketiah.

Burnley (4-2-3-1) Pope; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Brownhill, Westwood; Brady, Rodriguez, McNeil; Wood.
Substitutes: Peacock-Farrell, Pieters, Long, Dunne, Benson, Barnes, Vydra.

Referee Graham Scott.

Hello and welcome to live coverage of Arsenal v Burnley from the Emirates Stadium. Both teams have made a stinking start to the season. Arsenal are 15th and have scored only two goals in their last seven games; Burnley are 18th and have scored only two goals in their last seven games. But both have some winnable games coming up, starting tonight, and will expect the league table to look a lot different in a month’s time. All they need to do is start scoring a few goals.

Kick off 7.15pm.