Arsenal vs. Burnley: Team News, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info
Arsenal will try to stretch their unbeaten run in the Premier League to five matches on Sunday as they host Burnley at the Emirates Stadium.
The Clarets enter the contest in fine form, having won three of their last four. Burnley sit in 10th place in the standings, sporting a 10-point buffer over the clubs in the relegation zone.
The Gunners chase leaders Chelsea by eight points and must win to keep their title hopes alive.
Date: Sunday, January 22
Time: 2:15 p.m. GMT
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
TV Info: Sky Sports 1 (UK), NBC Sports (U.S.)
Team News
Per Tom Doyle of the London Evening Standard, Arsenal remain without the services of Theo Walcott, Mathieu Debuchy and Per Mertesacker. Santi Cazorla's Achilles injury isn't healing as originally hoped, and the Spaniard could be out for the rest of the season.
Hector Bellerin, Kieran Gibbs and Francis Coquelin should be good to go, and Olivier Giroud is also expected to return.
Burnley should be able to call on Scott Arfield and Johann Berg Gudmundsson, but Dean Marney could miss out on Sunday's match.
Possible Arsenal XI: Petr Cech, Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud
Possible Burnley XI: Tom Heaton, Matthew Lowton, Michael Keane, Ben Mee, Stephen Ward, George Boyd, Scott Arfield, Steven Defour, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Andre Gray, Ashley Barnes
Preview
Burnley are in the midst of a fine season and beat Southampton 1-0 in their last outing, giving the Clarets some hope ahead of Sunday's trip to London. The Gunners are the clear favourites to win, but things may not come as easy as some might expect.
The one constant in Burnley's solid run of late has been their ability to keep opponents from finding the net, with goalkeeper Tom Heaton and defender Michael Keane two of the club's best performers this season.
The Clarets will have to be at their best to continue their solid defensive form―as shared by Arsenal's official Twitter account, the Gunners have been lethal in front of goal this season:
Alexis Sanchez is once again living up to his high standards, and others have contributed as well. Olivier Giroud has been in excellent form of late, and if he's good to go on Sunday―and expectations are he will be, per the club's official website―he'll add another dimension to the attack.
Giroud's aerial ability allows the Gunners to make full use of the wings and switch between firing crosses into the box or cutting inside to pass straight through the defence.
It's that versatile attack that has served Arsenal well, along with their ability on the counter-attack. Burnley don't present a huge attacking threat, so expect manager Arsene Wenger to commit more men forward and bombard the box with crosses.
As good as the Clarets have been of late, they'll struggle keeping out a rampant Arsenal squad.
Final prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Burnley
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