EYEWITNESS: Richard Osley's view on Arsenal 3 Burnley 1
PREMIER LEAGUE: ARSENAL 3 BURNLEY 1
EYEWITNESS report from THE EMIRATES STADIUM
By RICHARD OSLEY
IS this how it's going to be from now until May? If it is, then Arsenal's so-called 'easy' run to the finish line will be anything but. Not necessarily because of the standard of the opposition, Burnley were pretty unimaginitive on this visit to the Emirates. No, Arsenal look determined to make the 'easy' games look difficult all by themselves. Home to Sunderland turned out to be a needless slog to the finish a couple of weeks back and this afternoon the Gunners were again only sure of three points in injury time, when sub Andrei Arshavin finally gave Arsenal the two goal advantage they had chased all day.
Frustratingly, Arsenal should have been 6 or 7-1 up by then and a bigger margin of victory would even have propelled them to the top of the league for the night. But Nicklas Bendtner, oh my Nicklas Bendtner, was atrocious. He was full of smiles and how-did-that-happen giggles when he was withdrawn after missing five open chances. The joke would not have been so darn hilarious to the Dane if Burnley had squared this one and points had been so freely dropped. A quiet little word in his word from Arsene Wenger could work wonders.
After all, here is the man that Arsenal are essentially relying on to make sure they are stocked with enough goals to push Chelsea and Manchester United to the wire. A lethal striker would have helped himself to a hat-trick without breaking a sweat, such was the ease in which the Gunners cracked open the Burnley defence. Theo Walcott, the man of the match (yes, really), served up several dangerous crosses which Bendtner should have buried. Shots trickled wide, headers bounced over the bar.
In the end it was Walcott who seemed to have enough of his generous supply line being wasted and decided to go it alone. With the scores levelled at 1-1 (Cesc Fabregas's first half strike from a sweet Nasri chipped pass was matched by David Nugent's bundled finish), Walcott charged inside and bent a daisy cutter around Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen. One of his best moments of the season, he needs more of those to convince Fabio Capello he should be part of his World Cup plans. Arsenal could do with them right now too (Think Porto on Tuesday night).
Then came 15 to 20 minutes of jitters, in which Arsenal invited trouble on themselves. Mikael Silvestre in particular looked panicky whenever Burnley crossed the halfway line. With five minutes to go, Chris Eagles should have stolen a draw for the visitors when he powered a shot over the bar following Arsenal indecisiveness from a corner.
At the other end, Arshavin, whose shoot on sight policy had failed miserably for 20 minutes, suddenly refound his clinical edge. Just in time, his arrowed shot and finally put the game beyond Burnley.
But the warning signs were there for any Arsenal fan who thinks there is still a genuine sniff at a title tilt. Bendtner, so wasteful. Silvestre, so frenzied, so un-Gallas-like under pressure. Denilson, anonymous. Fabregas, off injured. And Ramsey, the seriously injured midfielder only appearing in the tribute flag in the corner of the stadium.
If Arsenal do do the impossible and chase down Chelsea, they are going to do it the hard way. The last thing they need is to introduce more hurdles of their own now.