They were pressing from the front and looking to put Arsenal on the back foot. Mikel Arteta’s side could barely get out of their own half. For four whole minutes, it looked like Burnley were onto something.
But as soon as Martin Odegaard opened the scoring following Arsenal’s first venture into the Burnley half, that all dissipated in the blink of an eye.
What followed was putrid, quite frankly. Arguably the worst we’ve witnessed all season.
A miserable afternoon
You can lose 5-0 to a title challenger, it happens. It’s certainly happened enough times to Burnley over the years, usually to Manchester City, but there’s a way to lose these games and this wasn’t it.
BURNLEY, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: Leandro Trossard celebrates scoring the 4th Arsenal goal during the Premier League match between Burnley FC and Arsenal FC at Turf Moor on February 17, 2024 in Burnley, England.
17: Leandro Trossard celebrates scoring the 4th Arsenal goal during the Premier League match between Burnley FC and Arsenal FC at Turf Moor on February 17, 2024 in Burnley, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
BURNLEY, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: Leandro Trossard celebrates scoring the 4th Arsenal goal during the Premier League match between Burnley FC and Arsenal FC at Turf Moor on February 17, 2024 in Burnley, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
The Clarets played with no purpose, in fact they barely laid a glove on the visitors. For their fans it must have felt like a training exercise such was the simplicity in which they cruised to three points in East Lancashire.
With Arsenal hitting West Ham for six last week, the Gunners are clearly in a good moment at the minute. There’s a reason why they’ve scored 21 in their last five games.
But to score five at Turf Moor without breaking sweat was quite frankly an insult. You’ve got to make them earn such a one-sided victory as this.
The basics were lacking, that was much clear. It’s quite telling that the home faithful did in fact show some appreciation in two specific moments. Firstly for David Fofana running, secondly for substitute Jay Rodriguez putting himself about and clattering into a challenge. Finally someone actually showed some fight.
BURNLEY, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: An image of Vincent Kompany, Manager of Burnley, is seen on the side of the Vintage Claret pub with the text 'Vincent Klaret' outside the stadium prior to the Premier League match between Burnley FC and Arsenal FC at Turf Moor on February 17, 2024 in Burnley, England. (Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images)Where do Burnley go from here? Kompany insists he still believes, but being brutally honest he has to say that. What else can he say? It’s not like the Clarets can give up when we’re not even at the end of February. One would expect them to, either.
Stark reality
The statistics make for grim reading though, they really do. Let’s start with 18 defeats from 25, a loss ratio of 72 per cent.
Just five points have been collected from 13 home games this season. No other side has picked up so few.
Fifty-five goals have been conceded at an average of 2.2 per game. On 10 occasions the Clarets have shipped three or more.
Performances have generally been okay in recent weeks, Fulham aside. But this was a nosedive back to the early parts of the season where Burnley were miles off the pace.
The only positive I can find at this moment in time is that the fixture list does finally begin to relent a little, having had to play all three of the title challengers in recent weeks.
Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, West Ham and Brentford is, on paper at least, a kinder run of games coming up prior to the international break. It really is now or never, draws just won’t do.
But something drastic is going to have to change in the space of a few weeks because the results in the reverse fixtures don’t exactly point to Burnley wins. In fact, the Clarets lost all four against the aforementioned teams with an aggregate score of 9-2.
Burnley aren’t just in need of snookers, they’re in need of a miracle.
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