As lovely as it was for Arsenal to beat Swansea, they face another tough fixture this weekend. The comeback against Bournemouth is still fresh in the memory, but for the recovery rather than the failure to notch three points. Now it is the turn of Burnley to try to topple Arsene Wenger’s recovered Gunners, who are just one point off of second place ahead of this weekend’s fixtures.

Burnley’s difficulty this season has been finding any sort of form away from home. Their form at Turf Moor makes them one of the most formidable sides in the league, yet, once they leave their Lancashire comforts, they look the team many expected them to be. Not just failing to pick up points, the Clarets are hardly even scoring away from home this season. That information, one may think, would suggest that this will be a walkover for Arsenal. And it might be.

With Spurs facing Manchester City and Chelsea about to embark on a challenging run of fixtures – including a clash with Arsenal – this match is an open goal for Arsenal. Heavy favourites, this is not just a chance to make ground or leapfrog their North London rivals, it is a blank canvas to make a real statement as he we head into a decisive month of Premier League football.

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Burnley, however, are a team built to frustrate. Sean Dyche’s approach could be perfect to restrict this free-flowing Arsenal side. With Alexis Sanchez experiencing a relative dip in form, the Gunners look like they can be calmed. The deep defence, the rigid midfield line and the obscene form of Tom Heaton make Burnley a plucky underdog. And that status is, after all, what Dyche loves the most. It is what his Burnley teams have been built upon. They have enough threat to expose Arsenal on the counter-attack potentially, too.

The Clarets should not be underestimated, despite their dreadful away record. While, on the one hand, you feel like Arsenal could easily win this fixture by a clear margin, there is always an niggling feeling that Burnley could produce a shock. A tenth-placed side taking points from the fourth-placed team would not usually be regarded as a surprise, mind, but these are unusual circumstances.

With such a golden opportunity, these are the kind of fixtures that Arsenal would find a way to mess up. If it isn’t the result that delivers a knockout blow to their season, it would be a suspension or an injury. Maybe this time of year Arsenal will push on towards the title, or leave their collapse a little later. Or maybe, just maybe, the Gunners can build something. The demolition of Swansea was a nice starting point, following that with a similar result and performance against Burnley would be the foundations of a genuine title challenge.

What appears to be a routine win for Arsenal can become so much more than that. Burnley have frustrated the Gunners’ top six rivals throughout this campaign, which would amplify the significance of a heavy win for Wenger’s men. Failure to pick up all three points, on the other hand, would be further confirmation that Arsenal have not changed.

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