Arsenal certainly left it late and made hard work of it, but it's the result that counts and Laurent Koscielny's late goal gave us what feels like a massive 1-0 win at Burnley.
We didn't play with the same attacking style as we had shown in the recent victories over Chelsea and FC Basel, but you can't always win pretty and at least we ensured we came away from Turf Moor with all three points as Arsene Wenger celebrated 20 years in charge of the Gunners.
We had a large amount of possession, but credit to Burnley who did well shutting us out for most of the game until Koscielny's late intervention. The goal itself caused some controversy with sections of the crowd, especially the home supporters, believing it should have been ruled out for handball and offside. At first glance, it did look as though it had hit the defender's arm but that also he couldn't really have done much to prevent it. After seeing the replays, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's shot does deflect off Koscielny's arm, but it was purely accidental. It is cruel on Burnley, who had battled valiantly, and whilst the goal is up for debate I certainly won't be complaining at the result. Big relief at us getting this win; luck appeared to be on our side and for that I am grateful.
The first half wasn't very easy on the eye and neither side did much to excite the supporters. Theo Walcott saw two early efforts go wide while, at the other end, Sam Vokes somehow headed off target when left unmarked in the box.
Arsenal improved slightly after the break with Alexis Sanchez forcing a save from Tom Heaton in the Burnley goal, but it was the hosts who had the better chances to take the lead before the goal. Petr Cech was at full stretch as he kept out Johann Berg Gudmundsson's effort before Michael Keane saw his header hit the crossbar.
Walcott sent another shot wide as it looked increasingly like it was going to end in frustration for Arsenal, but deep into stoppage time the Gunners finally scored the decisive goal. Substitute Oxlade-Chamberlain's effort was touched into the net by Koscielny and I'm sure we haven't heard the last of the debate about this goal, but it won't change the result.
Just how significant could this result be? It is only one game and it won't make or break our season, but often when seasons go right or wrong certain games are looked back on. For us it was one where fortune favoured us on the day, but for Burnley it will be remembered as the point that got away.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Burnley fan Martyn Biddulph was full of praise for his side and felt they deserved more out of the game.
"We set out on Monday to get in Watford's faces and dominate the midfield. It worked on Monday but obviously Arsenal was always going to be a different ball game.
"Every single player in Claret and blue worked their socks off from start to finish today and were tremendous minimising the threat of Ozil and Sanchez.
"Obviously conceding that late on was an absolute sickener and felt undeserved after an outstanding defensive performance. If teams want to see how to play 4-5-1 against a big team show them that Burnley performance.
"Impossible to pick a fault out there unless you look at the referee and the less said about the goal the better. Hopefully we will meet again in the league next season and keep battling on."
Fellow Clarets' supporter Chris Horner was disappointed by the referee's decision to allow Arsenal's winner, but he still remained upbeat despite the result.
"I thought Arsenal controlled large amounts of the game and possession, but Burnley defended well and ultimately deserved a point," added Chris Horner. "The decision by the officials not to disallow the goal was incorrect in my opinion and cost Burnley a point that could make a major difference at the end of the season.
"It was a bit gutting with the timing of the goal coming as it did, but we can hold our heads high as we played well enough to keep Arsenal at bay for 92 minutes."
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
We now head into an international break having stretched our unbeaten league run to six games and, although the Burnley victory could be seen as fortunate, this is still good form and we need to keep picking up positive results.
It is a few weeks before we return to action again and the visit of Swansea will certainly be a tough test, so we need to make sure we produce a performance more like we did against Chelsea and try not leave it quite as late as we did at Turf Moor.
That result saw us close the gap on leaders Manchester City to four points, but we need to produce more consistent performances if we are to give ourselves any hope of keeping up the pace. Whatever happens I'll be backing the lads the whole way!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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