LAST UPDATE | 11 Nov 2023
OLEKSANDR ZINCHENKO SCORED the pick of the goals as 10-man Arsenal secured a comfortable win over Burnley to move level on points with Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Later this evening a Dominic Solanke double downed Newcastle as Bournemouth climbed out of bottom three
Mikel Arteta’s side took advantage of rivals Tottenham losing earlier in the day to pick-up a 3-1 victory over struggling Burnley, whose captain Josh Brownhill cancelled out Leandro Trossard’s brave opener at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal reacted well to being pegged back and William Saliba headed them level just three minutes later before Zinchenko’s scissor kick wrapped up the points, although the hosts did lose Fabio Vieira to a late red card.
Despite several injury doubts heading into the game, Arteta made just one alteration as Zinchenko replaced the unfit Ben White in defence as Bukayo Saka was deemed fit enough to start despite limping off in Wednesday’s 2-0 Champions League win over Sevilla.
The England winger had a great effort well saved by James Trafford as Arsenal set their stall out to attack from the off.
They would be frustrated, however, by a Burnley defence already at the stage of throwing themselves in front of shots and making last-ditch blocks before the half-hour mark, Saka time and again finding space and Kai Havertz also drifting in to cause trouble.
Havertz, still without a goal from open play since his £65million move from Chelsea, headed wide a glorious chance from a corner before Burnley threatened for the first time.
A rare mistake from Saliba gifted the ball to Johann Gudmundsson, who raced through on goal to force David Raya into a good, low stop.
Trossard was the next Arsenal player denied by Trafford, his effort from range tipped over the bar after Declan Rice had robbed Brownhill of possession in a dangerous area of the pitch.
The Belgium international was deployed as a central striker once again and gave the hosts the lead with his sixth goal of the campaign, turning home Saka’s header from close-range as he crashed into Trafford and the frame of the goal in the process.
Burnley were level nine minutes after the restart, Brownhill firing home after good work from Luca Koleosho led to the ball breaking for Brownhill, whose finish flashed in off Gabriel Magalhaes.
The goal stood despite a VAR check for a potential foul on Takehiro Tomiyasu but to Arsenal’s credit, they did not let the equaliser play on their minds.
In fact, the goal seemed to stun Arsenal back into life and Gabriel Martinelli broke clear only to fire straight at Trafford.
The lead was restored from the resulting corner as Saliba moved in front of Trafford to rise and head home Trossard’s delivery from close-range.
Zinchenko’s strike came from another Trossard corner as Dara O’Shea first headed the ball against his own crossbar before clearing into the path of the Ukraine captain, who finished acrobatically.
Burnley tried to find a way back into the game and were given some hope when substitute Vieira was dismissed, shown a straight red card by Michael Oliver for a high challenge on Brownhill.
Arsenal, though, saw out the remainder of the contest to join City on 27 points ahead of the champions’ trip to Chelsea on Sunday.
Eddie Howe’s return to Bournemouth turned into a nightmare after Dominic Solanke’s double condemned Newcastle to a 2-0 defeat.
Howe, who was the Cherries manager the last time they beat Newcastle in 2017, saw his side’s seven-match unbeaten Premier League run end and their injury crisis deepen.
The Magpies were already missing 11 players through injury and suspension after Callum Wilson tweaked a hamstring in the midweek defeat at Borussia Dortmund.
They then lost Miguel Almiron to what looked like another hamstring problem midway through the first half.
The long casualty list meant a first Premier League start for 17-year-old Lewis Miley in central midfield.
Such are Newcastle’s lack of options they ended the match with Ben Parkinson, an 18-year-old who had never previously made a first-team appearance, playing alone in attack.
It was therefore little surprise to see Bournemouth dominate the match, although they had to wait for an hour before Solanke finally made the breakthrough.
Bournemouth almost fell behind after the break when Neto made a mess of Kieran Trippier’s free-kick, but Solanke was on hand to clear the danger.
Solanke then went back to the day job at the other end of the pitch and promptly broke the deadlock.
When Joe Willock challenged Semenyo, the ball rolled off him into the path of the former Liverpool striker, who raced into the area and lashed his shot inside Pope’s near post.
Pope saved a fierce drive from Marcus Tavernier shot but Bournemouth doubled the lead from the following corner, Solanke flicking the rebound home with his heel after Luis Sinisterra’s header hit a post.
It secured only a second win of the season for Bournemouth and lifted them out of the bottom three, while Newcastle head into the international break licking their wounds.
