Arsenal 2-1 Burnley: Unai Emery's side make it two Premier League wins from two
Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fired Arsenal to their second Premier League win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Burnley at the Emirates.
It's the first time since the 2009/10 season the Gunners have once their opening two league games of a campaign.
Last season's joint-Golden Boot winner Aubameyang followed up his strike at Newcastle on the opening day with another winner, with a superb individual goal. Winning the ball back midway inside the Burnley half, the striker cut inside from the left wing and from the edge of the box fired down low into Nick Pope's bottom left corner.
Lacazette had given the hosts the lead on his first start of the season, a brilliant finish on the turn from close range after Burnley failed to clear corner, before Ashley Barnes scored his third of the season with an equaliser before the break.
Reiss Nelson thought he'd immediately given Arsenal the lead again, but had his strike chalked off for a tight, but correct, offside call.
Arsenal came out firing in the second half, helped by the half time introduction of Nicolas Pepe, and the home side were rewarded for their constant pressure with Gabonese forward Aubameyang providing the moment of quality to earn them the three points on a day where Dani Ceballos and David Luiz both impressed on their debuts.
It was a typical Arsenal performance in truth, as they looked dangerous on the counter and strong in the final third, only denied more goals by the solid Pope.
But at the back they showed the same problems from last season, with plenty of gaps for Burnley to get into and from crosses and set pieces they looked vulnerable all game. This was highlighted by Barnes' equaliser, as he was left unmarked by the ball watching Nacho Monreal to pounce on a deflected shot to tap home.
The second half saw Sead Kolasinac replaced Lacazette, recently back from an ankle injury, and was given a rousing reception following recent off-field events.
The full-back, along with team-mate Mesut Ozil, was targeted by carjackers last month and the pair were unavailable at Newcastle last weekend as police investigated further incidents.
Ozil was ill in the week so missed out on being involved here, while Kolasinac came on in a more attacking role, playing on the left wing for the final 19 minutes.
Fellow substitute Lucas Torreira came close to a third Arsenal goal late on, with Burnley failing to test Leno in the closing stages as they slipped to a 10th successive league defeat to the Gunners.
Highlights: To follow at 1715 BST
Opta stats
Arsenal have won their first two games of a Premier League season for the first time since 2009-10.
- Burnley boss Sean Dyche has lost all nine of his Premier League matches against Arsenal – the joint worst 100% losing ratio by a manager against an opponent in the competition along with Gary Megson against Liverpool (9/9).
- Arsenal have won their last 10 Premier League games against Burnley – they have only enjoyed a longer run against Man City (11 between 1994 and 2004), also winning 10 against Newcastle United between 2012 and 2017.
- Alexandre Lacazette has been directly involved in 28 goals (21 goals and seven assists) in 36 Premier League appearances for Arsenal at the Emirates, the joint-most of any player for the club since his debut in August 2017 (also 21 goals and seven assists for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang).
- Alexandre Lacazette registered his 40th goal involvement for Arsenal in the Premier League since his debut in August 2017 (28 goals, 12 assists), a haul only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang can better for the club in that time (43).
- Only Sadio Mané (14) and Sergio Aguero (13) have scored more Premier League goals in 2019 than Burnley’s Ashley Barnes (12 - level with Jamie Vardy).
- Arsenal attacker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored seven goals against Burnley in four league appearances, four more goals than he has netted against any other Premier League side.
- Dani Ceballos is just the third player to assist 2+ goals on his first Premier League start for Arsenal, after Ray Parlour v Liverpool in August 1992 (2) and Henrik Mkhitaryan v Everton in February 2018 (3).
Arsenal 2-1 Burnley: As it happened
Live blog by Gareth Jones
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