In an otherwise underwhelming clash on the Gunners’ final home game of the season, Kai Havertz’s 37th-minute header was enough to seal a crucial win that sees the Gunners within three points of domestic glory.
This was Arsenal’s night.
Under the Emirates Stadium on a Monday night for the first time this season, Mikel Arteta and his Arsenal players emerged from the tunnel with eyes of steel. The focus had never been clearer.
Win – and they have one hand on the Premier League trophy. Draw or lose, however, and the initiative is well and truly handed back to Pep Guardiola and Manchester City. Dropping points at home to managerless and already-relegated Burnley was unthinkable prior to kick-off. Even Mikel Arteta couldn’t have denied that his side had choked under the weight of pressure and expectation.
Amongst the baptism of fire that was the Emirates Stadium on Monday night, Burnley struggled to cope with the relentless Arsenal pressure. Kyle Walker had spoken pre-match about “stopping” Arteta’s team to do his former club Manchester City a last-minute favour in the title race, but his tired, ageing legs were rendered inoperable.
Up against Leandro Trossard, Eberechi Eze and the galloping runs of Declan Rice, Walker caved under extreme Arsenal pressure before Trossard combined with Eze only to rattle the bottom of the post with Burnley goalkeeper Alex Weir beaten.
The moment of skill and wonderful individual ability served as a timely reminder of what the Belgian can still produce after an underwhelming campaign in front of goal. In recent weeks, Trossard has conjured his own renaissance. He looks fired-up and, most importantly, bang in form ahead of arguably the biggest two weeks in Arsenal’s history.
Despite the resurgent Belgian working his magic down the left-hand side, Burnley withstood wave upon wave of Arsenal pressure.
A couple of magical Martin Odegaard passes in behind for Kai Havertz looked like they might be enough to break down the visitors’ stern defensive unit, but nothing came of either as Havertz watched the ball trickle out of play on both occasions.
Arsenal then struck the woodwork for a second time as Bukayo Saka somehow managed to find space down the right-hand side and clip his cross over Weiss and off the post. Trossard was there awaiting the opportunity to knock it home, but the ball trickled away from him and into the possession of Kyle Walker.
The hosts felt that they should have been awarded a penalty when Saka went down in search of Kai Havertz’ driven low ball across goal, but referee Paul Tierney waved away the claims before the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) agreed.
After waves of relentless pressure, Arsenal finally opened the scoring in suitable fashion – a goal from a corner kick.
Bukayo Saka’s inswinging corner was met by Havertz, who outjumped Weiss’ poor attempt to catch the ball before the German nodded into the back of the net.
The goal opened the floodgates. All of a sudden, Arsenal were finding gaps which they were simply unable to locate before Havertz’ opener. It was a moment that edged the Gunners ever closer to their first Premier League title for 20 years.
Saka then saw a curled effort fly agonisingly wide before Havertz continued his chaos with a blocked shot after a brilliant piece of skill to cut Burnley wide open.
With the score still a nervy 1-0, the Arsenal fans were collectively unable to relax. There was still a tense atmosphere inside the stadium as they yearned for a second to ease the pressure.
But Eberechi Eze did those anxieties no favours when his loose backpass was cut out by Jadon Anthony before the Clarets winger sent a curling strike just over David Raya’s goal. The Arsenal goalkeeper pointed to his head to remind Eze of the need for calm at such a pivotal time.
The former Crystal Palace star then had the opportunity up the other end to make amends, but two close-range attempts went narrowly wide.
Burnley had opportunities to equalise early in the second half. Hannibal Mejbri fired over after Cristhian Mosquera had given the ball away inside his own half, and Anthony again had a chance to test Raya before Gabriel expertly got in the way of the strike.
Then came the mistakes. From nowhere, the Arsenal players started to make errors. Loose touches followed by poor passing and a lack of coherence throughout the team made for a nervy second half.
Havertz was then spared a red card after a lazy challenge from behind caught Lesley Ogochukwu with his studs. The VAR looked at it but decided to stick with Paul Tierney’s on-field decision of a yellow card.
Arteta turned to Viktor Gyokeres, Piero Hincapie and Myles Lewis-Skelly to add some much-needed craft to the Arsenal performance, but the singular goal was ultimately enough to drag the Gunners closer to the line.
Arsenal are now just one win from glory. Their Premier League title ambitions will be realised this Sunday at Selhurst Park when the league leaders play their final domestic game of the 2025/2026 season against Crystal Palace.
With the news that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is set to leave the club this summer after a trophy-laden decade in charge at the Etihad Stadium, Arsenal will seal the Premier League title if City fail to beat Champions League-chasing Bournemouth on Tuesday evening.