I don’t usually do stats but in light of the negativity around AA this week let’s start with just one ….. Arsenal are unbeaten in 22 home games. Stick that in your pipe.

Today we welcome the Pride of Lancashire, forget the billionaires down the M65 in Manchester, Burnley are a proper Lancashire club;  Hovis bread, Satanic mills and Lowry landscapes. The last time I visited Turf Moor Bob Lord was still Chairman of Burnley and as he died in 1981, I guess my impressions may be a tad outdated!

LB in his youth delivering Hovis

These are tough times for Burnley. Like many clubs who scrape into the PL for a season in the limelight they and their supporters say “it is just being there which we will enjoy. Going to Old Trafford, The Emirates etc etc will be brilliant”

Sadly, the reality is different and the clubs who do not replace the managers who got them into the PL by dint of hard work are few and far between. Sean Dyche is the unlucky incumbent, seems a likeable chap who is working with a team who are obvious relegation fodder: will Burnley stand by him in what has already been a terrible start? Who knows … I hope so.

Chalobah, a Chelsea loanee has potential to be a fine player. Having Captained England at all levels he has 19 U-21 caps at the young age of just 19. Danny Ings is another fine youngster who has started to score in the PL, only 22 he was last season’s Championship Player of the Year.

No wins, just 4 points, 12 goals conceded in their last 4 games, Burnley are a banana skin for our heroes. Anything less than a resounding victory will heighten the frustration around the Emirates.

Arsenal: Once again the talk is about injuries and the defence. We have discussed this way too often and it is dull, dull, dull. Quite frankly, if Welbeck played alongside BFG and The Ox played at LB we should beat Burnley (MU is another matter). We have enough players to put out an effective defence and as the ball will be almost always in the Burnley half they will be under-employed. This is not to say that Burnley have no chance of scoring – this is an Arsenal side who have conceded first in each PL home game this season!

Given the ever expanding injury list picking a side, at least in defence is relatively easy.

Should Mr Wenger continue with the Flamini/Arteta axis at home to the bottom club in the league or be a little more adventurous? I would love to see Rosicky start – won’t happen but a nice thought. Same with Podolski and Campbell.  Theo is likely to get a few minutes

Or we could go the Didit route ……

Szczesny

Bellerin      BFG     Chambers    Monreal

Ox   Ramsey    Arteta

Campbell     Welbeck    Alexis.

Unlikely but you never know. We are more likely to kick off with Cazorla in the side despite his poor form in front of goal. Benchwise we have some quality attackers so once again we are subject to Didit’s Law…… Score one more than Burnley and everything is Hunky Dory.

Instead of the food report let me give you a little more history. Today we will look back a century to World War 1.

Many of the men from Burnley volunteered to join Kitchener’s Army – 15% of the entire male population were killed  n WW1 amongst whom were the Accrington Pals. Men from all around Burnley signed up  to the East Lancashire Regiment to be shipped out to France.  On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916, the Accrington Pals were sent “over the top.” Of the 720 men who ran towards enemy lines 584 were brought down in the first half hour of the battle. It was a tragedy which even today resonates to such an extent that there are songs, plays and documentaries written about the Accrington Pals. ( for further reading  http://www.pals.org.uk/pals_e.htm)

 Some of the Pals

Last weekend we struggled against an ultra-defensive Sunderland, Burnley are likely to be the same. Compresss the play, try to score from set pieces or a breakaway, above all don’t get thrashed. Arsenal should be used to such tactics, particularly at The Emirates – we should win.

Let it be So.

COYRRG

written by Big Raddy