After enjoying successful opening weekend wins, Arsenal and Burnley meet at the Emirates Stadium to kick off the second weekend of Premier League action.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesSead Kolasinac and Mesut Ozil could make their Arsenal returns this weekend after missing the trip to Newcastle for security reasons.
Mohamed Elneny (fitness), and Granit Xhaka (back) are also in contention to feature if they both pass late fitness tests.
Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin (both knee), Kieran Tierney (groin) and Konstantinos Mavropanos (groin) however all remain absent for the foreseeable future.
Burnley will be without Robbie Brady Steven Defour and Danny Drinkwater as the midfield trio continue to build up their match fitness.
Fullback, Charlie Taylor however could feature after successfully regaining full match fitness this week.
Form
Arsenal started the season with a one goal victory over Newcastle as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored from Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ 58th minute cross.
Burnley also started their season with victory as Ashley Barnes netted a brace against Southampton, before Johann Berg Gudmundsson completed a 3-0 result which put the Clarets fifth in the table.
Stat Attack
- Arsenal have won 11 of their last 12 meetings with Burnley in all competitions (W11, D1), and scored three goals in both league meetings last season.
- Burnley’s Sean Dyche is yet to take a point against the Gunners as a manager in eight previous league meetings.
- Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored twice in each of his last three outings against Burnley.
- Burnley’s Erik Pieters is currently the joint-top assistant with two assists alongside Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez.
- Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka made 84 passes against Newcastle last weekend, which is one less than Leicester’s Ben Chilwell who currently tops the passes chart with 85 passes.
Prediction
Arsenal need to make a better start than they did at Newcastle because Burnley look like they’re back to their dangerous best, especially when driving the ball forward at a quick pace and making crosses.
Should Burnley score first, I think that Arsenal are in for a tough afternoon against one of the league’s most robust defences because they will be difficult to break down as Southampton found out last weekend.
Ultimately I can see Arsenal somehow finding a way past though to scrape the win but won’t be their usual dominant wins over the Clarets.
Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 Burnley
Result: Arsenal 2-1 Burnley