Arsenal struggle without Mesut Ozil as Alexis Sanchez saves the day

Published on: 26 November 2017

Alexis Sanchez buried a controversial penalty deep into added time to lead Arsenal over Burnley and into fourth spot.

For the second season in a row, a contentious injury-time winner gave Arsenal a 1-0 win at Turf Moor on Sunday. This time around it was a penalty when James Tarkowski was adjudged to have pushed Aaron Ramsey, and despite Burnley's complaints, Alexis Sanchez won the game by firing into the bottom corner.

It's a tough way to lose a game, but Arsenal won't care and will focus on the fact that it's only the second time this season that they've taken three points on the road. It was so close to being more points dropped away from home, and Arsene Wenger will be only too aware of that.

Nevertheless, the result was good, and the Gunners move above Spurs and Liverpool into the top four.

Positives

Winning away from home is always a positive for this Arsenal side, and the fact they kept plugging away can be seen as a sign of character. Sometimes you need a bit of luck or a decision to go your way, and that's what happened.

Negatives

Without Mesut Ozil, who was taken ill on the morning of the game, the Gunners lacked creativity and that little something extra in the final third. The German's replacement, Alex Iwobi, found it tough to make any real impact.

But that Arsenal look like such a different team on the road is the issue that really needs to be solved. The absence of Ozil was a blow, of course, but not so great that it should make the performance so wildly different to last week's.

Manager rating out of 10

6 -- This was Premier League by the numbers for Wenger, who may need to do a bit more thinking with two games in a week now.

Player ratings (1-10; 10 = best. Players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)

GK, Petr Cech, 7 -- The 35-year-old made a couple of good saves and was assured and commanding overall, providing a solid last line of resistance.

DF Laurent Koscielny, 7 -- The Frenchman was his usual assured self; his defensive positioning makes routine clearances look simple.

DF Shkodran Mustafi, 7 -- Untroubled for the most part, although he did concede a couple of silly free kicks from dangerous positions. Thankfully Burnley were unable to make more of them.

DF Nacho Monreal, 7 -- Arsenal's Mr Consistent this season -- another unflustered display from the Spain international.

MF Hector Bellerin, 6 -- So exciting last week against Spurs, he couldn't quite find that spark, although he was left quite isolated -- especially when Jack Wilshere came on.

MF Granit Xhaka, 7 -- It was his pass into the box that led to the foul on Ramsey, and he was allowed to make tackles in midfield without being punished -- which is something of a novelty for him.

MF Aaron Ramsey, 7 -- Looked dangerous at times but was unable to find the final pass or the killer shot.

MF Sead Kolasinac, 6 - The Bosnia & Herzegovina international gets into very dangerous positions down the left, but his final ball was off, as was his passing in general, with a low completion rate of just 61.4 percent.

MF Alexis Sanchez, 6 -- Another whose passing was below par (67 percent), but when the moment came to win the game, he was not found wanting.

MF Alex Iwobi, 5 -- Just didn't look convincing, and even with 45 midweek minutes, he shouldn't have run out of steam so quickly.

FW Alexandre Lacazette, 6 -- Got little service; more than anyone, he missed the creativity of Ozil and was replaced in the 79th minute.

Subs:

MF Jack Wilshere, 6 -- Almost broke the deadlock with a shot that deflected wide, but in general had little impact.

FW Danny Welbeck, N/R -- Came on late, tried to get involved but, like Lacazette, didn't have much to work with in his few minutes on the pitch.

Andrew Mangan is one of ESPN FC's Arsenal bloggers. You can follow him on Twitter: @arseblog.

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Source: espn.co.uk

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