On the Whistle: Arsenal 3-1 Burnley - "The Premier League looks too easy for William Saliba"

Hello guys, it's finished 3-1 to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium over Burnley. I was there, I was there with family actually today, it was my father-in-law's 60th birthday celebration, so we were at the game celebrating, it was lovely, but I didn't have time to record a video at the ground so I thought come home and do it here. Very decent win for Arsenal, a couple of sort of nervy moments, one really at 0-0 where Burnley had a very good chance, 3-1-1 and David Reyes saved, Gabriel clearing the rebound away, and then I guess the other nervy moment is when they got back into it at 1-0 after half-time. I don't think Arsenal's concentration was quite there after the interval and I'll talk about that more anon, but Arsenal recovered 1-3-1, a very good day all round, especially with Tottenham losing at Wolves. Their title challenge has hit the buffers, alas, who could have possibly seen that coming? So 3-1 and one of the interesting things about this Arsenal team this season is that they are finding it a little bit harder to get that early goal. Mikel Arteta spoke about it in his pre-game press conference. Last season we were very good at scoring inside the opening 20 minutes, breaking games open. We're struggling to do that. To be honest I thought that might be partially by design because we're a little bit more conservative, a little bit more risk-averse in the way that we play, and I think it gives us a bit more control in games. It doesn't mean that we're a bit less exposed. We don't quite fly out the blocks in the same fashion. We more steadily grow into games, and actually I think that may be healthier for us, but it does mean that it can be a protracted wait sometimes before we break the opposition down. I thought Trafford made a couple of decent saves in the first half, both from efforts from Eddie to the box. Leandro Trossard had a decent shot. Bukayo Saka had a very decent shot, well saved at the near post. A number of corners, which were vaguely threatening. I think they really struggled to handle us on set pieces, which was pleasing. This is only a week after the Newcastle game when we had a string of corners, didn't really do anything with them, but we were much more threatening from those scenarios today. In the end it's Leo Trossard who gets the goal and a brilliant time to score just before half-time. Trossard's such an interesting player. You think of him as a wide man, but I don't think he's a winger in any conventional sense. He's a classic Arsenal wide player in some respects, in that he wants to be in field, he wants to be inside, he wants to be a number 10. And I really like him as a number 9 as well. There are obviously things he provides. His combination play is very good. I don't think it's coincidence that we're seeing more from Martinelli with Trossard in the team, ahead of Nketiah. I think that Trossard's tendency to drop out to the left, to combine, to switch positions, is obviously really benefiting Martinelli. But here's what you've also got to say about Trossard. In the last two games he's done the job of a centre-forward and by that I mean he's been in the right place, at the right time, six-yard box, sniffing out the goals, scored across from Saka against Sevilla and then today you won't see more of a centre-forward poacher's goal than that. Saka heading the ball back across the goal and Trossard was there, he was brave. He was close to Trafford, close to the post. He had to be brave to get in there and get the goal. He did exactly what was required. So I thought that was a really big moment in the game of course, swung it in our direction. I was delighted as well to see that he was okay. One of those weird moments where you go to celebrate but there was such concern that the celebrations were almost quite muted. I also think about 10,000 people have gone for a but very, very happy to see it hit the net and very happy to see him back and on his feet before the end of the half. As I say, I don't think we were quite at it at the start of the second half. Burnley had a chance where they had a breakaway and it was quite threatening. I think it was inside the first 30 seconds of the half, first 60 seconds certainly. I could see Declan Rice screaming at his teammates, telling them to get their heads on. Jorginho as well. I could tell he intuitively knew something wasn't right in that early period at the start of the second half. Eventually they get the goal, bit of luck on the finish of course and equaliser beats David Rye. And it's 1-1. Suddenly Burnley are in the game and I think they would have felt very, very happy with that at that particular point in time. I think in the first half they would have felt like they limited us to relatively few clear opportunities and occasionally threatened on the break and they got their reward here. So that was it 1-1. Fortunately we didn't have to wait too long for going ahead and it was William Saliba who, I mean what a player he is. Sometimes when I see him at the back and he receives the ball under pressure, it almost feels like he's trying to make the game difficult for himself to give himself challenges. There was one moment today where he knocked it over an opponent's head and then took it round another. I kind of watch him and think Premier League football is too easy for he's just absolutely imperious. And given his height, given his size, the one area of his game that has been a bit underdeveloped in the early part of his career has been his aerial ability. So I was really happy to see him score from a header, rose well at the near post. As I say, puts it away with more of a threat from corners. I don't think Burnley will be happy with defending, I don't think Trafford will be happy with it, but I was over the moon. And then we get the goal for 3-1 from Zinchenko. What a finish, the old sort of scissor kick, bit of kung fu action from Zinchenko. Really does take pretty audacious technique to hit that in mid-air as he did, send it flying into the far top corner. And we all know he's got a tonne of ability and he's under a bit of pressure now with Tommy Asu playing well. Ben White obviously wasn't there today, which meant he came back into the team, but might be no bad thing for Zinchenko. A bit of competition, a bit of a sense of, I've got to up my game, I want to keep my place. I think that might suit him. I think complacency in any part of the pitch can be a dangerous thing. So 3-1 and that's sort of the game really. Fabio Vieira comes on for Kai Havertz, I think maybe after that Saliba goal. Imagines to get himself sent off, not a particularly good cameo for Fabio Vieira. I've just watched Miklacic's press conference where he sort of praises the decision. His tone sounds pretty sarcastic. I'd love to know what he really thought, but obviously I suspect he's not going to tell us. I can see why that was given. I mean, Vieira goes high, his foot makes very slim contact with the opponent's knee, but any more contact, it could be very, very serious. It's a bad challenge from a technical perspective. It's a player who, to me, doesn't really know how to tackle and has sort of hung out a leg. But at a time when we've got injuries, at a time where we seem to be losing squad members, still no Odegaard back today, Eddie back on the bench, but I think Arteta said we've got seven or eight out at the present point in time. The last thing we need ahead of a month in December where we're going to play an enormous amount of games is a player on a three-game ban. I think Arteta will, whatever he thinks of the decision, be very frustrated about that, about losing Fabio Vieira. And actually, when I came on, I thought this is a chance for him, this is a decent opportunity. You know, Kai Havertz really, and there was an opportunity for Vieira to stake his claim for one of those midfield places. It doesn't feel long ago that we were talking about him as a potential starter in this team and he just seems to have sort of lost a step or two, and today another setback for him. So there we go, but 3-1 win, Arsenal move up to second in the table, Spurs last at Wolves in stoppage time. I was actually in one of the restaurants in the stadium, we were having a meal before the game, they had the Wolves Spurs match on the telly, and it was quite a sort of posh restaurant really, I forget what it's called, but it's a fancy bit in club level. I was in there just pre-game, I was in the lower tier for the match itself. But let me tell you, any kind of pretense of decorum or manners or politeness went out the window when those two Wolves goals went in. I think everybody who was in that stadium was absolutely delighted. So there we go, we go into another international break, let's hope that it means we get some players back. Obviously Bukayo Saka played today, which means he will go away with England. Let's hope he returns safe and sound, let's hope they all return safe and sound, because we're coming to the crunch and we're going to need everyone we can get available. Right guys, I'll leave it there for now, thank you for watching and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Bye bye.