EPL: Gunners gun for Burnley

Arsenal vs. Burnley
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Kick off: 8:15PM

Arsenal will be aiming to kickstart their Premier League campaign when they welcome Burnley to the Emirates Stadium this evening.

The Gunners enter the weekend’s games down in 15th, just three places better off than Burnley in the final relegation spot.

Mikel Arteta will be hoping that last weekend’s 2-0 loss to rivals Tottenham Hotspur is the lowest point of Arsenal’s campaign.

After all, it cannot get much worse, this being the Gunners’ lowest points return after 11 league games since the 1981-82 campaign.

Arsenal have also lost to Liverpool, Manchester City, Leicester City, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers in their last nine outings – their worst spell since April 1995.

The honeymoon period for Arteta, which saw him win the FA Cup and Community Shield in August, is over and the pressure is seriously on the Spaniard to get things right.

Scoring goals has been the biggest issue for the North London outfit, with only the bottom three sides – including next opponents Burnley – netting fewer than Arsenal’s 10 goals.

Arsenal also have an issue on home soil, having lost each of their last three Premier League matches at the Emirates Stadium. Not since December 1959 have they lost four in a row.

That run, incidentally, included a defeat against Burnley in mid-December, and the Clarets will see this as an opportunity to end their barren streak away to the Gunners.

Sean Dyche’s charges have lost all six of their away Premier League meetings with Arsenal – their worst 100% record away to a single side in the competition.

Burnley have not exactly been in great form themselves, either, winning just one of their opening 10 matches, with that coming at home to Crystal Palace a few weeks ago.

They have since lost 5-0 to Manchester City and drawn 1-1 with Everton, seeing them slip below Fulham into the relegation zone.

Dyche may be correct when he says it is not the time for his side to panic, having been in this position before, but supporters may start to grow restless should Sunday’s game end in another loss.

Arsenal possible XI: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Ceballos, Xhaka, Willian, Lacazette, Saka, Aubameyang.

Burnley possible XI: Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Brady, Westwood, Brownhill, McNeil, Rodriguez, Wood.