The form team of the English Premier League – Arsenal – will look to keep the pressure on league leaders Chelsea with a victory at Turf Moor against Burnley on Saturday.
The Gunners have been in tremendous form since the turn of the year, with only losses to Tottenham and Monaco causing that frown to surface on Arsene Wenger's face. Having seen his Arsenal side fire four sumptuous goals against Liverpool last weekend, Wenger will certainly be confident of another attacking showing against Burnley, who are fighting for their Premier League lives.
"The target of the work during the season is that your team becomes stronger and we still have many challenges until the end," said Wenger. "It's interesting that we are in good form and it's interesting that we have a good team dynamic. Hopefully we can maintain that until the end of the season, then we will see where we stand.
"We look behind us and people are chasing us, in front of us there's quite a big distance with Chelsea but we work very hard to reduce that. They have a difficult schedule and we have a difficult schedule. What we can only do is master our own schedule."
Chelsea are currently seven points clear of Arsenal, with a game in hand, while Wenger also has Manchester United and Manchester City to worry about, with the two Manchester neighbours a point and two respectively behind. However, with United and City facing each other in the Manchester Derby on Sunday, Arsenal know one team, at least, will drop points, making three against Burnley essential just to pull clear a bit more.
"It's just as hard [as Liverpool]," added Wenger of the trip to Burnley. "Different propositions maybe, maybe we'll be a bit more cautious defensively, but it is a team who goes forward as well. They play in an offensive style, direct but very efficient.
"They have improved since the start of the season because they had to adapt to the Premier League and it took them a while. Now they look a very, very good team against everybody.
"If you look at their results against the top teams like Manchester City and Chelsea, they have done extremely well. On top of that, they've taken 18 out of [their total of] 26 points at home. That means that for us the challenge is big and we want to be at our best because I'm convinced that this is a difficult game."
While Burnley were quite stubborn and with it impressive against Tottenham last weekend, if Arsenal play anything like they did against Liverpool, there will be only one winner. Consistency, though, is the key in the final run in, and having held to that word pretty well in 2015, Arsenal will not want it to run away at Turf Moor.
Burnley, like in the game against Spurs, which ended 0-0, will not make it any easy for Arsenal to break through, knowing, any point, even one, could be a major boost to their chances of Premier League survival.
Where to Watch Live
Burnley vs Arsenal is scheduled for a 5.30 pm BST (10 pm IST, 12.30 pm ET) start with live coverage in India on Star Sports 4 and Star Sports HD4. Viewers in India can also catch the EPL action via live streaming online on Starsports.com.
Audience in the UK can catch the Premier League match live on Sky Sports 1, while the option to live stream is on Sky Go and Watch Sky Sports. Viewers in Australia can catch Burnley vs Arsenal live on Fox Sports, Foxtel or Fox Sports EPL.
US viewers can watch the game live on NBC Sports, while the action can also be live streamed on NBC Live Extra. Audience in Canada can catch the action live on TSN or TSN TV.
Team news: Burnley: Matt Taylor will hope to win a fitness test from an Achilles injury, with Burnley needing all the personnel available to try and fashion a great escape.
Arsenal: Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Mathieu Debuchy and Abou Diaby are also back in contention after getting run-outs in U-21 matches, but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has had a recurrence of a groin problem, which will keep him out of action, at least for another two weeks, and possibly the whole season, if surgery is required. Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and central defender Laurent Koscielny face late fitness tests, but Wenger sounded confident of both becoming available.
Expected lineups: Burnley: Heaton; Trippier, Mee, Shackell, Duff; Boyd, Arfield, Jones, Barnes; Ings, Vokes.
Arsenal: Ospina; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Monreal; Coquelin, Cazorla; Ramsey, Ozil, Sanchez; Giroud.
