By Daily Sports on January 23, 2022

Arsenal lost ground on their bid for a top four finish with a 0-0 draw against bottom of the table Burnley at the Emirates on Sunday.

Mikel Arteta made just one change from the side that lost 2-0 to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semifinal on Thursday with Rob Holding coming in for Takehiro Tomiyasu.

Burnley haven't played since Jan. 8 and were able to hold Arsenal well despite the home side's dominance in possession.

"We started slow, we looked leggy and didn't have enough rhythm or intention to attack the way we wanted. We started to play better, more rhythm and threat and came out in the second half completely different," Arteta said after the game.

"We tried in every different way but lacked the quality in the final third. At the end, when we have a really low block, you need spark and creativity to win football matches and today we didn't do that.

"We need to start scoring goals and get back the players, the last four weeks it has been extremely difficult to put training sessions and squads together because of the amount of COVID-19 and injuries."

Dwight McNeil nearly put the visitors ahead inside the first 10 minutes when he sent a searching cross into the box which nearly found its way into the top corner instead. Aaron Ramsdale was forced to tip it over the bar.

Nick Pope was kept busy the other end with Martin Odegaard forcing him into a good save on 22 minutes.

Alexandre Lacazette had numerous chances to give Arsenal the lead but saw all of them either saved or tapped wide.

One such chance came on 65 minutes when Emile Smith Rowe managed to pull Pope out of position. leaving the striker with an open goal but he hit his effort wide.

Neither side were able to get the winning goal and the result means Burnley stay bottom while Arsenal move above Tottenham to sixth but their north London rivals have two games in hand. (ESPN)

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 23, 2022

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