Arsenal vs. Burnley
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Kick off: 1:30PM
Arsenal will be looking to bounce back from successive defeats at lunchtime today when they host Burnley at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners go into the game sitting three points adrift of the Champions League places, but are overwhelming favourites to return to winning ways against a Burnley side languishing in the relegation zone.
Unai Emery has fared better than many expected in the Arsenal hotseat so far having been charged with leading the club into a new era, but the past week has shown that there is still a lot of work to do.
Anyone lulled into a false sense of confidence by a 22-match unbeaten streak across all competitions has been sharply brought down to earth, with the Gunners suffering back-to-back defeats heading into this match.
It is difficult to know which one will have disappointed Emery more – a 3-2 loss to struggling Southampton or their 2-0 defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur in midweek which not only gave away the North London bragging rights, but also saw Arsenal eliminated from the EFL Cup.
The Gunners had the chances to have at least drawn that game, and the history books will show that they hit the woodwork three times too, but the stark reality of it was that they were second-best to Spurs for the most part, and on their own turf too.
However, it should not all suddenly be doom and gloom for Arsenal; they are two places better off than at the same stage of last season, and while their 22-match unbeaten run wasn’t quite as dominant as the numbers might suggest, they did pick up decent results against Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham in that time.
The signs look promising for this game too, with Arsenal having won each of their last 27 home Premier League matches against teams beginning the day in the relegation zone, stretching back to their thrilling 4-4 draw with Spurs in another North London derby in October 2008.
Today will be Arsenal’s final home outing of 2018 and Manchester City are the only team to have beaten them at the Emirates in the Premier League this calendar year, with the Gunners winning 13 of their 18 such outings so far.
However, Wednesday’s derby defeat means that Arsenal could also lose back-to-back home games in all competitions for the first time since March, which is also the last time that they were beaten three times on the bounce home or away.
Emery also suffered back-to-back losses in his first two games in charge of Arsenal, and on that occasion his side bounced back with their 22-match undefeated streak, so the Spaniard will no doubt be demanding a similar response in their last outing before Christmas.
A victory would see them temporarily move level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea – at least until the Blues host Leicester City later in the day – but it would take an Arsenal win, Chelsea defeat and a seven-goal swing for Emery’s side to spend Christmas Day in the Champions League spots.
Arsenal possible XI: Leno, Sokratis, Koscielny, Xhaka, Lichtsteiner, Torreira, Guendouzi, Monreal, Iwobi, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
Burnley possible XI: Hart, Bardsley, Long, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Gudmundsson, Westwood, Cork, Hendrick, Vokes.