It was a night when fervour and hope ran into yet more Arsenal anxiety. This was supposed to be straight-forward, wasn’t it? Burnley’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on 22 April. They sacked their manager, Scott Parker, shortly afterwards and came here under the caretaker, Michael Jackson. They had avoided defeat only three times in their previous ten league matches, drawing all three.
It was not straightforward. Arsenal laboured under the spectre of the mother and father of all calamities. It nagged away during a traumatic second-half. Everybody knew that with the margins so tight it might take only one flash from Burnley; a bolt from the sky blue. If Arsenal do stagger over the line and win their first title since 2004, they will have done it in nerve-shredding fashion.
The line remains in sight. It will be over if Manchester City fail to win at Bournemouth on Tuesday night. If City do get the points, then it will go to the final Sunday when Arsenal visit Crystal Palace, seeking to preserve a two-point advantage over City, who host Aston Villa.
Arsenal relied on the two pillars of their challenge to see off Burnley. A set-piece goal, Kai Havertz heading home from a Bukayo Saka corner towards the end of the first-half, and the latest demonstration of their defensive excellence. It was their 19th clean sheet of the league season. They are nearly there.
Arteta had demanded passion and energy on what was arguably the biggest occasion in the Emirates Stadium’s 20-year history. He always does this but he really demanded it here, calling upon the Arsenal fans to turn out in their thousands beforehand to welcome the team bus. They got the memo.
The streets in front of the ground were jammed, red flares adding to the visuals. When the pre-match pyrotechnics stretched up towards the sky, the scene was set.
Arteta put the throttle down with his selection – Martin Ødegaard and Eberechi Eze in central midfield in front of Declan Rice. Havertz was preferred to Viktor Gyökeres in the No 9 role. And it was over to the XI in red, their task to find a way through Burnley’s two banks of four.
The nervous tension crackled. When Burnley took their time over dead-balls in the early running, the home crowd howled. There was the usual reception for Kyle Walker, the Burnley captain, formerly of Tottenham. Leandro Trossard was unhappy with a Zian Flemming tackle on Eze and he shoved the Burnley striker. For Arsenal, it was all about managing the hammering of their he arts.
What Arsenal would have given for an early goal but it did not come. There was the moment in the 15th minute when Trossard took a pass from Eze, jinked inside and watched the Burnley defenders back off. He unloaded from just outside the area and watched the shot thump against the post.
Arteta asked Riccardo Calafiori to step up and inside from left-back. Which he did. And then some. He popped up on the right wing at one point in the first half. The manager wanted to isolate Bukayo Saka against the Burnley left-back, Lucas Pires. Saka represented possibility, as usual.
Burnley flickered, which was not supposed to happen. When Flemming sparked a break on 27 minutes, Loum Tchaouna crossed for Hannibal Meibri at the far post. The finished was sliced wide.
Arsenal probed, looking to punch passes up the channels. There was uproar when Havertz got in on the left and crossed low for Saka, who had got in front of Pires. The challenge was messy and down Saka went. There was contact but was it enough? After a video assistant referee review, it was decided there was not.
Arsenal had the momentum. The crowd felt it and they stayed with their team. They needed the reward of a goal, the soothing tonic of one and it came from a familiar source. Just when it was needed. Ødegaard had a clear shooting opportunity only for the ball to deflect off Lesley Ugochukwu for a corner. When Saka curled it over and Havertz rose imperiously, nobody close enough to him, it was the prompt for a wild release.
There had been so many reasons to presume that Burnley would be easy meat. The majority of them were supplied by their numbers over the course of a frustrating season. But their performance was good. They moved the ball with slickness at times. Tchaouna and Jaidon Anthony tried to make it happen on the wings. Flemming was a presence.
Eze came to the fore at the start of the second-half as Arsenal craved the comfort of a second goal. When he banged a volley from Cristhian Mosquera’s cross down into the ground and back up, he watched the ball skim the top of the crossbar. Moments later, Eze was well placed to meet a Havertz cross only to head into Maxime Estève, a decent chance wasted.
It remained uncomfortable. The Arsenal crowd tried to lift their players, with Burnley coming to fancy their chances of landing the sling-shot. “Stand up for the Ar-se-nal,” they demanded. They stood. Matters threatened to become even edgier when Havertz stretched into a challenge on Ugochukwu in the 67th minute and caught him with his studs. There was a review for a possible red card. The decision was to stick with the yellow.
For the home crowd, the closing stages were harrowing. Burnley, though, did not create the big chance. Not for the first time, Arsenal refused to yield.