Match Day Thread Burnley vs Arsenal - Matchday Thread

That was superb centre forward play from Gyokeres to carry the ball up the pitch and play that crossfield pass into Trossard's path, who's cross is then headed in by Deccers .

 

His best game by far.

 

HT. 0-2.

Superb half of football, really. Utterly dominant.

The only criticism is that we haven't scored 3 or 4 because the chasm in class is there for all to see.

Very comfortable half and cruising. Burnley have had 0 attempts on goal.

More of the same in the second half and let's cruise to 3 points please .

 

HT 0-2
9 shots on goal, 7 on target
67% possession
Burnley have zero shots on or off target.

Not an exaggeration to say we could have been 5-0 at HT.

 

Interesting to see what Burnley will do in the second half. Will they come out and try to get back in the game?

 

Gyokeres off injured - elbow to the face at the end of the second half.
Merino replaces him.

 

Gyokeres off for Merino? I wonder what the reason for that is? I hope it's for only something minor.

Shame he had to be subbed off as he was excellent that half.

 

Unlucky for Gyokeres if he is injured, surely not a tactical move, he was having a fantacstic game.

 

It is an injury - he took an elbow to the face at the end of the first half - he may have a fractured cheek bone.

 

Utd now 2-1 down... 2 goals in 3 mins from Forest

 

Burnley players have thrown in a few snide elbows when they've been 'challenging' for the ball. The ref needs to get on top of this because we don't want them injuring our players just because they can't get near us.

 

65 mins gone and still 0 shots at all from Burnley.

 

There's loads of space in transition to exploit here, but Merino isn't good enough as an outlet up top and our best transition threats aren't fit at the moment.

Burnley are starting to see more of the ball here as we've dropped the intensity and can't pin their CBs with Gyokeres off. However, they've still not had any big chances. But need to make sure we don't inadvertently let them back into it.

 

Norgaard, Nwaneri and Hincapie on.
Zubimendi, Eze and Calafiori off.

 

Much slower second half for us.
Maybe we're just seeing it out at this stage

 

Nice to see Arteta rotating more. He wouldn't have done this last Season.

Just need Madueki, Havertz and Odegaard back and then we will have some serious bench options.

 

Ah **** - Utd back in it.
2-2 in their game.

 

After an almost-perfect first half, this second half has been quite passive from us. Maybe that's by design and to conserve energy, but I don't think it's a coincidence that we've not been as fluid since Gyokeres has come off.

Burnley have tried to pile a bit of pressure onto us, but to no avail (so far).

 

It's been a disappointing half.
Merino is just having a really bad half. I think that is having a big impact.

 

Merino just doesn't replicate his Spain performances for us.