Photos: Arsenal 3-1 Burnley, Premier League – Bendtner Misses (A Lot), Walcott Hits Back

Ollie Irish

8th, March 2010

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By Ollie Irish

Arsenal, whose players sported ‘Get Well Soon Aaron’ T-shirts in the warm-up, should have won this match by at least five goals, but Nicklas Bendtner had a serious off day. The Dane missed at least three gilt-edged chances, but goals by Cesc Fabregas (who went off soon after with a hamstring tweak), Theo Walcott (cut inside from right wing, low pinpoint finish) and Andrey Arshavin were enough to see off a resilient Burnley side.

Gooners must have been rather nervous when David ‘The Nuge’ Nugent equalised, immediately after Bendtner had missed one of his sitters, but in the end there was only one winner. Crucially, Walcott played a million times better on Saturday than he did for England in midweek. Fair play to Theo for his impressive bounce-back.

So Arsenal stay very much in the title race, though Fabregas’s fitness is essential now. I hear Wenger might risk him in this week’s Champions League clash against Porto. Hmmm, as vital as he is to the team, I’m not sure that’s wise.

Burnley are in big trouble. Brian Laws looks like a Championship manager, and that’s where he’s leading them, I fear.

The best photos from the Grove:

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Arsenal's Neves Denilson and Tomas Rosicky sport T-shirts saying 'Get well soon Aaron' before the game, in tribute to team-mate Aaron Ramsey