Late Sanchez penalty fires Arsenal to win over Burnley

Oli Fisher
Alexis Sanchez: Four way battle for Chilean

Arsenal moved up to second in the Premier League table as they beat Burnley 2-1 in a dramatic encounter at the Emirates.

Shkodran Mustafi bagged the first goal, his first for Arsenal, in the 59th minute to break down the Clarets’ resistance.

The Gunners were forced to play the last 25 minutes with 10 men as Granit Xhaka was given his marching orders by Jon Moss.

Moss then awarded the visitors a penalty in injury time, which boyhood Arsenal fan Andre Gray converted to earn a share of the spoils.

However, the drama was not to be over, as the referee then gave the Gunners a penalty after Koscielny had been struck by a high boot in the seventh minute of added time. Alexis Sanchez slotted past Tom Heaton, much to the relief of the Arsenal fans.

Mesut Ozil drew a low save out of Tom Heaton with the hosts’ first decent chance before Alex Iwobi saw his own effort deflected behind for a corner.

Koscielny headed the resulting set-piece straight at Heaton as Arsenal ramped up their efforts to establish an early lead in the contest.

Much like their Boxing Day win here over West Brom, the Gunners were being kept at bay by a staunch defensive unit, and Ozil’s tame strike five minutes before the break saw Heaton make a rare first-half save.

Alexis Sanchez came within a whisker of giving Arsenal the lead before the break but could not wrap his curling shot inside Heaton’s post.

Aaron Ramsey missed with a cute flick at the start of the second half before Sanchez fizzed a strike even closer to the frame of the goal than his previous effort.

 

The drama begins

Shkodran Mustafi: Scores winner for Arsenal

The hosts wanted a penalty after a coming together between Mustafi and Gray but Moss was unmoved, but the German defender would head home his maiden Arsenal goal shortly afterwards to open the scoring.

Burnley were given some hope when Xhaka was dismissed just seven minutes later as he dived in on Defour having gifted him possession.

Moss spoke to assistant Andy Halliday and the Swiss midfielder was shown his ninth red card since 2014, which will result in a four-game ban for the summer signing.

Dean Marney was booked for a cynical foul on Ozil and was carried off on a stretcher as he injured himself in doing so, leading Dyche to introduce Joey Barton, James Tarkowski and Sam Vokes in quick succession.

And Burnley appeared on course for just a second away point of the season when Gray converted a late penalty, only for more drama to follow.

With Wenger already back in the changing rooms alongside Xhaka, Moss deemed Mee’s kick on Koscielny as he attempted to clear a deep cross as a foul and Sanchez was left to produce the heroics and keep Arsenal’s title aspirations alive.