by Bulldog Drummond
As you most likely will have heard ahead of this game, Ozil and Kolasinac are both available to play in this match, but the general feeling is that they might not be starters.
Meanwhile at the other end of the salary scale the Arsenal Youth website say that “Arsenal have confirmed that Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson, Emile Smith Rowe, Matt Macey and Eddie Nketiah are part of the first-team squad. However, winger Gabriel Martinelli, who joined from Ituano this summer, is in the U23 squad.”
Meanwhile again, according to Football London Nigel Winterburn has hailed the signing of Dani Ceballos, calling him the ideal man to replace Aaron Ramsey. FoLo also tell us that Mkhitaryan is about to be sold while the Mail is still certain that Ozil is off to DC United, telling us his agent is in the States discussing details.
So we are bearing that in mind. Now, onto the background.
The last time Arsenal lost to Burnley in any competition, and in fact the only time Arsenal have lost to Burnley this century, was in a league cup match nearly 19 years ago.
The last time Arsenal lost to Burnley in the league was over 40 years ago when Bertie Mee was manager of Arsenal. It was a time of rapid decline for us, as the manager became ever more entrenched in his military style confrontational approach concerning the players, and the top men who had given the club the League and Cup double in 1971 were allowed to leave, without quality replacements being found. Arsenal were left struggling against the threat of relegation.
If we just take the Premier League years however we have ten games played against Burnley, with Arsenal winning nine and drawing one. 23 goals to the Arsenal and five to Burnley. Here’s the history.
| Date | Game | Res | Score | Competition |
| 07 Sep 1974 | Arsenal v Burnley | L | 0-1 | Division One |
| 22 Mar 1975 | Burnley v Arsenal | D | 3-3 | Division One |
| 16 Aug 1975 | Burnley v Arsenal | D | 0-0 | Division One |
| 20 Dec 1975 | Arsenal v Burnley | W | 1-0 | Division One |
| 06 Jan 2008 | Burnley v Arsenal | W | 0-2 | FA Cup |
| 02 Dec 2008 | Burnley v Arsenal | L | 2-0 | League Cup |
| 08 Mar 2009 | Arsenal v Burnley | W | 3-0 | FA Cup |
| 16 Dec 2009 | Burnley v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 06 Mar 2010 | Arsenal v Burnley | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 01 Nov 2014 | Arsenal v Burnley | W | 3-0 | Premier League |
| 11 Apr 2015 | Burnley v Arsenal | W | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 30 Jan 2016 | Arsenal v Burnley | W | 2-1 | FA Cup |
| 02 Oct 2016 | Burnley v Arsenal | W | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 22 Jan 2017 | Arsenal v Burnley | W | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 26 Nov 2017 | Burnley v Arsenal | W | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 06 May 2018 | Arsenal v Burnley | W | 5-0 | Premier League |
| 22 Dec 2018 | Arsenal v Burnley | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 12 May 2019 | Burnley v Arsenal | W | 1-3 | Premier League |
That is 11 straight wins at the end, and we are of course hoping to make it 12.
Last season Burnley faired modestly in the PL with 11 wins in the entire season and a goal difference at the end of minus 23.
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 15 | Burnley | 38 | 11 | 7 | 20 | 45 | 68 | -23 | 40 |
| 16 | Southampton | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 45 | 65 | -20 | 39 |
| 17 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 35 | 60 | -25 | 36 |
| 18 | Cardiff City | 38 | 10 | 4 | 24 | 34 | 69 | -35 | 34 |
| 19 | Fulham | 38 | 7 | 5 | 26 | 34 | 81 | -47 | 26 |
| 20 | Huddersfield Town | 38 | 3 | 7 | 28 | 22 | 76 | -54 | 16 |
Away from home it was even less impressive, as they got just four wins.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 13 | Newcastle United | 19 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 23 | -5 | P0 |
| 14 | Burnley | 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 21 | 36 | -15 | 17 |
| 15 | Southampton | 19 | 4 | 4 | 11 | 18 | 35 | -17 | 16 |
More thoughts on the game in the morning.
Footnote….
Meanwhile, on a personal note, the Untold team is off to a rather special birthday bash which is being held at a farmhouse where, we are told, there is no broadband, and so we might be a little slow at clearing some comments. Regular commentators should not be inconvenienced, and we are hoping there won’t be much of an interruption to the flow of things at all, but we’d like to apologise in advance if any comments do get held up. It’s just a one off. Honest.
I only read the tiny snippet of a headline plus half a blurb in GoogleNews, but it seems that Dyche is certain that VAR is going to give Burnley the win. Did 😈 Mike Riley contact him and tell him this?
OT: Injuries
Someone in the medja, pointed to a JLT – Marsh Injury Index. There is a page at marsh.com and a page at LJT.com.
https://www.marsh.com/uk/press-centre/premier-league-injuries-costs-soar-to-record-levels-2018-19-season.html
https://www.jlt.com/industry/sports-media-and-entertainment-insurance/insights/football-injury-index-2019
Some of the numbers were a little fuzzy to me, but here is some of the data from the second link:
764 injuries in 2018/19
15% increase in injuries over 2017/18
86% increase in salaries pair to injured players since 2012/13
Season _Dollars _ Number
2012/3 _119 _ _ _ 603
2013/4 _129 _ _ _ 573
2014/5 _150 _ _ _ 580
2015/6 _157 _ _ _ 718
2016/7 _177 _ _ _ 714
2017/8 _214 _ _ _ 663
2018/9 _221 _ _ _ 764
2018/9 _Number _Cost
Man$ _ _44 _ _ _26.3
ManU _ _63 _ _ _25.2
Ars _ _ 49 _ _ _24.2
StAid _ 45 _ _ _22.8
Spuds _ 61 _ _ _17.9
Liver _ 50 _ _ _15.2
CPal _ _39 _ _ _11.5
Chel$ea 50 _ _ _11.5
Ever _ _28 _ _ _ 9.4
Bourne _35 _ _ _ 8.0
Watf _ _37 _ _ _ 7.7
Newc _ _39 _ _ _ 6.8
Burn _ _28 _ _ _ 6.1
Soton _ 34 _ _ _ 6.0
Bright _28 _ _ _ 5.0
Hudder _43 _ _ _ 4.7
Leic _ _19 _ _ _ 4.4
Ful _ _ 27 _ _ _ 4.1
Card _ _34 _ _ _ 3.3
Wolves _11 _ _ _ 1.1
You can hold the article, and publish something yourself if you like.
I remember Valentines Day 1948 when we beat Burnley 3-0 en route to winning Div 1.
It would be nice to repeat that tomorrow!
My wife and I were on honeymoon.
We are still together 71 years later!💕
Arsene’s last home game, the 5-0, was brilliant! That is one match I will never forget attending! I hope we carry on our good run against them tomorrow, as I’m off to that too!
Aww congrats Nicky!! 😊
Congratulations Nicky!
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The women have signed a goalkeeper from Man$ity.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/fran-stenson-signs-long-term-deal
Welcome Fran!
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The U23 won 2-1. Smith Rowe with a goal!
https://www.arsenal.com/fixture/under-23/2019-Aug-16/under-23-2-1-brighton-hove-albion-u23-match-report
Congrats nicky! 47 years behind you , but sharing the same passion. Let’s not have a Mike Dean show tomorrow, please.
Congratulations Nicky. It is wonderful to know that love holds for both marriage and football, specially that we are celebrating 100 years at the top.
Thanks for congrats from all my mates on Untold.
All I hope is other partnerships will prove to be as fortunate as ours. 😁😁