Burnley 1 (Alexander pen 28) – Arsenal 1 (Fabregas 7)
Match Report | Highlights

Manuel Almunia – Absolutely diabolical. The worst player on the pitch for either side tonight, even though he was hardly at fault for the only goal he conceded. Flapped at a number of crosses and his distribution was awful. Shot stopping was  so iffy that the defence lost faith in him and charged down every shot they could. Lucky to have Fletcher’s goal deemed offside after a monumental mistake. 3

Bacary Sagna – Adequate in defence – he was more often than not up to the task – however he did very little in attack. In fact, he was almost anonymous. Today’s performance contained very little to write home about. 5.5

William Gallas – Quiet, but solid for the most part and bailed out Thomas Vermaelen on more than one occasion. Streamed forward occasionally but lacked his usual attacking gusto, but was decent enough at his primary job of defending. 6.5

Thomas Vermaelen – Probably the Belgian’s worst performance for Arsenal. Was lucky not to have scored an own goal when his wayward header was tipped on to the bar by Almunia, and then gave away a blatant penalty with a shocking tackle on Andre Bikey (who had already lost the ball). 4.5

Mikael Silvestre – He could have all the experience in the world however I still wouldn’t want to renew his contract. I’m astounded that Arsene Wenger wants to keep on the aging Frenchman in a playing capacity, as he showed today that he can hardly even be relied upon to play as a 4th choice left back. He’s got no pace and offers nothing in attack, however he can make a tackle and hold his position in the backline. 5.5

Cesc Fabregas – The only stand-out performer today for the Gunners. The Arsenal captain showed great tenacity to break the Burnley defence and open the scoring. The Spaniard’s influence on the side was perfectly illustrated by the manner in which things went downhill for the visitors as soon as Cesc went off injured. 7

Alex Song – Another one with very little to write home about. He was busy and put himself about in the midfield however he failed to take control of the game and make as much of an impression as he would have liked. Pretty much a subdued version of what we’ve come to expect from Song. 6.5

Abou Diaby – No major gaffes however in ninety minutes on the park the Frenchman failed to make any sort of significant contribution. He ran around a bit and made a few decent passes however all too often he would hold on to the ball for too long and eventually be out-muscled despite his hulking frame. 6

Theo Walcott – Showed his customary turn of pace and blistering speed on the ball, however this was all for nothing as Walcott seemed to get the simples tasks wrong – wayward passes and misguided crosses were in abundance as the young Englishman simply failed to get anything right. 4

Andrey Arshavin – Put himself about a bit and attempted to make as much room in a condensed Burnley backline as he could, however he rarely received adequate service and when he did he failed to take his chances. His class was evident in snippets however he was largely ineffective. 6

Samir Nasri – Much like Diaby, Nasri failed to make any significant contribution to the Arsenal cause in his 90 minutes on the pitch. I’m not sure if it was due to a lack of effort, lack of fitness or simply a dip in form, however Nasri failed to try anything other than the most simple of options today. At least he got that right. 6

SUBSTITUTES
Aaron Ramsey – 6
Eduardo – 5

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