Match ends, Burnley 1, Arsenal 1.
BurnleyBurnley1ArsenalArsenal1
Arsenal were denied victory by the woodwork, some heroic Burnley defending and the video assistant referee amid a dramatic late onslaught as Granit Xhaka's error ultimately cost the Gunners dear.
After Xhaka's errant pass struck Chris Wood for a bizarre equaliser to cancel out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's opener, Arsenal piled on relentless pressure in the closing stages.
The Gunners thought they had been awarded a penalty against Erik Pieters but the spot-kick and the defender's red card for deliberate handball were overturned by VAR after replays showed he had diverted Nicolas Pepe's shot onto the bar with his shoulder.
That was not the end of the late drama as Ben Mee's block denied Aubameyang a sure-fire winner in stoppage time before Dani Ceballos crashed an effort against the post with almost the last kick of the game.
Ultimately, however, the blame for the dropped points will be laid at the door of Xhaka, who was sent off in the Gunners' December defeat by Burnley and had another day to forget against the Clarets.
Receiving an ill-advised short pass facing his own goal from keeper Bernd Leno, he tried to clip a square ball to David Luiz across the penalty area but succeeded only in hitting Wood in the midriff and the ball bounced into an empty net for the softest of levellers.
Buoyed by the unexpected gift, Burnley controlled a scrappy second half before Arsenal's late siege but Leno first produced a fine save to keep out Erik Pieters' dipping 30-yard volley, and then used his leg to deny Wood in a one-on-one.
A fifth successive home draw inches 15th-placed Burnley seven points clear of the Premier League bottom three, while Arsenal remain 10th, their hopes of a late push for European qualification hindered by two dropped points.
A tale of two handballs
While VAR reached the correct decision in reversing Andre Marriner's call to penalise and dismiss Pieters, Arsenal will have felt the technology should earlier have been used in their favour against the same player.
Pieters' arm appeared to have been outstretched when he handled Nicolas Pepe's cross midway through the second half but VAR official Kevin Friend saw no reason to bring the incident to Marriner's attention.
"If the first one is not a penalty honestly someone has to come to the training ground and explain what a handball is. It cannot be any clearer," said frustrated Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
"We hit the bar and the post, they cleared the ball off the line but they defend those situations well - and it is down to us not getting the three points."
Xhaka was far from Arsenal's only culprit, even though the scale of his error outweighed the Gunners' other individual failings.
He has made more errors, eight, leading to goals than any other outfield Premier League player since the start of 2016-17 and few, if any, will have been as glaring as his ill-judged and ill-executed miscue here.
But Arsenal should have been further ahead by that stage, Bukayo Saka guilty of prodding wide when clean through on Nick Pope, while Aubameyang also hooked wide after a mistake by Matthew Lowton.
The Gabon striker had fooled Lowton with a stepover in the build-up to giving Arsenal an early lead, his shot squeezing under the glove of Pope at his near post in front of watching England boss Gareth Southgate.
Arsenal's most glaring miss, however, came from Pepe who completely missed his kick, unmarked eight yards out, from Kieran Tierney's second-half cross before Aubameyang and Ceballos were both unlucky in time added on.
Hectic half-hour for Pieters
It would take some players a month to experience the sort of excitement Pieters managed to cram into half an hour, after coming on as a 63rd-minute replacement for the injured Charlie Taylor.
The handball shouts he survived - one correctly, the other far more up for debate - were drama enough, but in-between the former Netherlands defender unleashed a superb first-time volley that had Leno desperately backpedalling to tip over.
Pieters' positioning to, legally, divert Pepe's effort onto the woodwork was typical of a host of last-ditch defensive efforts from Burnley's back-line as the visitors threw the proverbial kitchen sink at them in the dying moments.
Chief among those was Mee flinging himself in front of Aubameyang's goal-bound strike when it seemed sure the Arsenal striker would register a fourth double, and ninth goal, in only seven appearances against the Clarets.
While they were left clinging on for a point, Burnley could conceivably have collected all three, had Leno not smartly stuck out a leg to deny Wood after a classy exchange of passes with Matej Vydra.
Instead, given the proceedings of the final few minutes, they were content with another draw to widen the gap to the relegation zone to seven points, although 18th-placed Fulham do have a game in hand.
'Today we got the right use of VAR' - what they said
Burnley manager Sean Dyche speaking to BBC Sport: "We had to work very hard against a decent Arsenal side but the mentality of the players was outstanding.
"It is a third game in a week and the physical side of the game was tremendous. During the end of the game, the mentality to block and make sure we didn't concede was fantastic."
On the VAR incident: "I don't think he [Erik Pieters] has thrown his arm up and I do not believe it was deliberate. The referee had his red card out in a millisecond but that is what VAR is for. I know it needs streamlining but that is what it's there for.
"People know our history against Arsenal with last-minute goals and handballs but today we got the right use of VAR."
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta speaking to BBC Match of the Day: "If you don't score your big chances, if you give a goal to the opponent and you don't get the referee's decision when you need to, it is very complicated in the Premier League to win a lot of games.
"The top teams sustain results and level through 10 months in this competition and you have to come here and win the game comfortably in my opinion.
"When you have those moments in the game when you are so dominant you have to go two or three goals up and the game is over.
"We gave them a goal, it can happen in football and I demand that we play the way we do. It can happen when you play long."
Auba loves a sip of Claret - the stats
- Burnley have enjoyed only one win in their past 10 games in all competitions (D5 L4), after winning three in a row directly before that.
- Arsenal have kept only one clean sheet in their past 11 games in all competitions (0-0 v Man Utd in January), after keeping five in a row directly before that.
- Burnley have drawn five consecutive home league games for the third time in their history, after a run of six games ending in April 1936 and a run of five ending in October 1997.
- Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored more Premier League goals against Burnley (8) than against any other club, while only against Hamburger SV (9) has he netted more often in the top five European leagues.
- Chris Wood became the eighth player to start 100 Premier League games for Burnley and marked it with his 40th goal in the competition.
- Only Cesc Fabregas (18y & 236d) reached 50 Premier League appearances for Arsenal at a younger age than Bukayo Saka (19y & 182d), who played his 50th game today.
What's next?
Burnley visit Everton in the Premier League next Saturday, 13 March at 17:30 GMT.
Arsenal travel to Olympiakos in the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday (20:00 GMT) before hosting Tottenham Hotspur in a north London derby in the Premier League next Sunday (16:30 GMT).
Player of the match
TarkowskiJames Tarkowski
with an average of 7.03
Burnley
Avg
- Squad number5Player nameTarkowskiAverage rating
7.03
- Squad number9Player nameWoodAverage rating
6.39
- Squad number6Player nameMeeAverage rating
6.31
- Squad number23Player namePietersAverage rating
6.27
- Squad number27Player nameVydraAverage rating
6.11
- Squad number1Player namePopeAverage rating
6.05
- Squad number11Player nameMcNeilAverage rating
5.95
- Squad number18Player nameWestwoodAverage rating
5.94
- Squad number19Player nameRodriguezAverage rating
5.92
- Squad number3Player nameTaylorAverage rating
5.90
- Squad number12Player nameBradyAverage rating
5.89
- Squad number8Player nameBrownhillAverage rating
5.76
- Squad number2Player nameLowtonAverage rating
5.73
- Squad number7Player nameGudmundssonAverage rating
5.63
Arsenal
Avg
Squad number3Player nameTierneyAverage rating5.88
Squad number14Player nameAubameyangAverage rating5.70
- Squad number22Player nameMarĂAverage rating
5.31
Squad number21Player nameChambersAverage rating5.24
- Squad number23Player nameDavid LuizAverage rating
5.22
- Squad number18Player nameParteyAverage rating
5.21
- Squad number7Player nameSakaAverage rating
5.18
Squad number1Player nameLenoAverage rating5.16
- Squad number11Player nameĂ˜degaardAverage rating
4.98
- Squad number12Player nameWillianAverage rating
4.73
Squad number9Player nameLacazetteAverage rating4.65
- Squad number8Player nameDani CeballosAverage rating
4.41
- Squad number19Player namePépéAverage rating
4.25
Squad number34Player nameXhakaAverage rating3.34
Line-ups
Burnley
Formation 4-4-2
- 1Pope
- 2Lowton
- 5Tarkowski
- 6Mee
- 3TaylorSubstituted forPietersat 63'minutesBooked at 71mins
- 7GudmundssonSubstituted forBradyat 68'minutes
- 18Westwood
- 8Brownhill
- 11McNeil
- 27VydraSubstituted forRodriguezat 86'minutes
- 9Wood
Substitutes
- 12Brady
- 15Peacock-Farrell
- 16Stephens
- 19Rodriguez
- 23Pieters
- 26Bardsley
- 28Long
- 34Dunne
- 41Benson
Arsenal
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 1Leno
- 21Chambers
- 23David Luiz
- 22MarĂ
- 3Tierney
- 18ParteySubstituted forCeballosat 80'minutes
- 34Xhaka
- 7SakaBooked at 55mins
- 11Ă˜degaardSubstituted forLacazetteat 63'minutes
- 12WillianSubstituted forPépéat 69'minutes
- 14Aubameyang
Substitutes
- 2BellerĂn
- 6Gabriel
- 8Ceballos
- 9Lacazette
- 16Holding
- 19Pépé
- 25Elneny
- 33Ryan
- 35Martinelli
- Referee:
- Andre Marriner
Match Stats
Home TeamBurnleyAway TeamArsenal
- Possession
- Home41%
- Away59%
- Shots
- Home9
- Away15
- Shots on Target
- Home5
- Away3
- Corners
- Home2
- Away4
- Fouls
- Home5
- Away12
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Burnley 1, Arsenal 1.
Post update
Corner, Arsenal. Conceded by Matthew Lowton.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Pablo MarĂ (Arsenal) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Post update
Dani Ceballos (Arsenal) hits the right post with a right footed shot from the centre of the box.
Post update
Attempt missed. Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Post update
Foul by Calum Chambers (Arsenal).
Post update
Erik Pieters (Burnley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Hand ball by Jay Rodriguez (Burnley).
Post update
Foul by Nicolas Pépé (Arsenal).
Post update
Dwight McNeil (Burnley) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Hand ball by Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal).
Post update
Attempt missed. Jay Rodriguez (Burnley) left footed shot from the left side of the box is high and wide to the left.
Post update
Offside, Arsenal. Kieran Tierney tries a through ball, but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is caught offside.
Substitution
Substitution, Burnley. Jay Rodriguez replaces Matej Vydra.
Post update
VAR Decision: No Penalty Arsenal.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Nicolas Pépé (Arsenal) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Bukayo Saka with a cross.
Post update
Attempt missed. Nicolas Pépé (Arsenal) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Kieran Tierney with a cross.
Substitution
Substitution, Arsenal. Dani Ceballos replaces Thomas Partey.
Comments
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Burnley 1-1 Arsenal: It's only Arsenal
Stoic defending by Burnley who weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Or Pepe’s glaring miss
Or Xhaka and Leno’s madness
Or Chamber’s impotence
For large sections of the match, we were poor, slow, ponderous and lacklustre
We were back to our rubbish best (or should that be best rubbish?)
And then we woke up in injury time..
So frustrating!!!
Anyway, MOTM Ben Mee well deserved
Hilarious.