Clarets gunning for the points

Last week I wrote: "It seems it is just one top team after the other," and so it continues this week. We have to go back to the visit of West Brom at the beginning of February for the last time we played a side from outside of the top eight in the Premier League.

Tomorrow's is as tough as they come, no doubt about that. Arsenal are the form team but they are not unbeatable. When this run started there were some who thought we wouldn't get a point from them. So far we've got five points from the seven games and that could have been so much more given our performances, particularly in the first halves, at Man United and Southampton.

And what we must not forget is the six games remaining after this one are going to be just as tough as any from this group of fixtures.

The one thing that's remained consistent over the season at Burnley is the positivity from players and management. Yesterday, in the press conference, Sean Dyche was told that David Jones had said he always came out positive from the Monday meetings positive whether we'd won, drawn or lost.

Asked how he was doing it, Dyche smiled and said: "Lying."

David Jones says the belief has grown during the season

That positivity really is there and the players know how big a game it is. Jones said: "We are fighting for survival, so they are all massive games, but the manager has built the mentality of this club to be in the right place when we hit difficult positions in seasons like this.

"I feel we are more than equipped to deal with the pressure. Sometimes, playing a team you are not expected to get anything against gives you that freedom. The manager has been trying to get us to play that way all season and as it's gone, that's shown in our play more.

"Obviously, we've had some decent results against some good clubs and confidence is high, but we want to play against these teams and I can just tell, with the mood in the squad this week, that we're looking for a repeat performance from last week, and hopefully a better result."

Jones added: "Stopping them is a difficult job, but what we've been successful at this season is working hard as a team and being difficult to play against, especially at home. We feel that if we play our high energy game it will be difficult for anybody.

"As the season has gone on, belief has filtered through the whole squad and that's grown. Maybe earlier in the season, with a team like Arsenal coming, we may be on the back foot, but this time we are full of confidence and looking forward to the challenge of these seven games, starting on Saturday."

I don't envisage any changes to the side that played Spurs last week but there could be a bigger battle for places on the bench with all of Steven Reid, Matt Taylor and Ross Wallace vying for places after coming through from injuries.

Reid and Wallace have just been short term knocks but for Taylor it has been a long road back form achilles surgery; he hasn't played any first team football since the 0-0 home draw against Man United back in August.

Last week, numbers dictated that Fredrick Ulvestad got a place on the bench, but it was not all about numbers; Dyche has been very impressed with the Norwegian since he signed both in terms of fitting in with the squad and with what he's shown in training.

I expect us to line up: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, George Boyd, Scott Arfield, David Jones, Ashley Barnes, Danny Ings, Sam Vokes. Subs from: Matt Gilks, Steven Reid, Michael Keane, Stephen Ward, Fredrick Ulvestad, Matt Taylor, Ross Wallace, Michael Kightly, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Marvin Sordell.

Arsenal - what to write about them. When they lost 2-0 at Southampton on New Year's Day they were sixth in the table. Significantly, they were 13 points behind joint leaders Chelsea and Manchester City.

Today they are only seven points behind Chelsea, who have a game in hand, but have actually pulled back the 13 points on City and passed them by two points. Since that defeat at St. Mary's, the league table shows they've won 30 points from 11 games; that's five more than both Man United and Liverpool and six more than Chelsea.

The three points they dropped were in a 2-1 defeat at Spurs in February. The other ten games have been won during which they have scored 25 goals and conceded just five.

Sometimes teams arrive with a star player who you need to keep quiet if at all possible but Arsenal will turn up with more than a few who fall into that category.

Earlier this week there was a thread on the message board asking who had been the best player posters had seen this season. Samuel Eto'o had his one good game for Everton against us and, of course, Chelsea pair Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard were well represented.

I didn't hesitate with my choice, Alexis Sanchez was sensational for Arsenal when they beat us 3-0 down at the Emirates. He scored two of the goals that day and he's their leading goalscorer this season in the Premier League by some distance. His 14 goals is double the next highest. Olivier Giroud.

Then come players with four goals such as Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ӧzil and Danny Welbeck.

Arsenal are close to full strength tomorrow with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain the only player definitely ruled out although Arsène Wenger has suggested that Mathieu Debuchy remains short of a competitive edge and Laurent Koscielny will have a scan to determine his involvement.

However, all of Jack Wilshire, Mikel Arteta and Abou Diaby came through an under-21 game against Stoke with no problems and are all available as should be Wojciech Szczensy.

That's all added to the team they had out last week against Liverpool which was: David Ospina, Francis Coquelin, Laurent Koscielny, Hector Bellerin, Nacho Monreal, Per Mertersacker, Alexis Sanchez, Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ӧzil, Santi Cazorla, Olivier Giroud. Subs: Matt Macey, Gabriel, Kieran Gibbs, Theo Walcott, Mathieu Flamini, Tomas Rosicky, Danny Welbeck.

Last Time They Were Here

Arsenal played at Burnley in three successive seasons in three competitions. They beat us in the FA Cup in 2007/08, were beaten by two Kevin McDonald goals in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup in the following season and then, in December 2009 played us at Turf Moor in the Premier League.

I could suggest this was a good game of football but I would not be giving a true picture of a game that was as good as anything I'd seen at Turf Moor in years. It was outstanding from both teams; it was breathtaking in the first half from Andrey Arshavin and, in particular, Cesc Fabregas, but we more than played out part in a game that ended 1-1 and could have been a home win but for an incorrect assistant's flag.

Man of the match Stephen Jordan

We opted to go toe-to-toe with the Gunners but we hadn't counted on Fabregas, even though we nearly struck first blood with a Thomas Vermaelen header being tipped onto his own bar by Manuel Almunia.

But soon Arsenal were on top and we didn't have any answer to Fabregas who was virtually running the show, aided and abetted by Arshavin, and he gave them the lead in only the eighth minute with a goal that both Andre Bikey and Clarke Carlisle should have defended better.

The next ten to fifteen minutes were frightening and how Arsenal didn't score at least one more I really don't know. Fabregas shot just wide, Jensen saved another from him well and then Arshavin hit the post.

We got through it without any further damage and then got ourselves right back into it. Bikey got into the box only to be caught by Vermaelen. Referee Mike Dean had no doubts and pointed to the spot; Graham Alexander certainly didn't have any doubts and we were level.

Soon after, Fabregas was forced off with an injury and replaced by Aaron Ramsey. From that moment on, just two minutes before half time, they didn't really dominate us again.

The second half saw some incredible football played and I think we probably just had the edge overall, and we thought we'd won it when Steven Fletcher, played in by McDonald. scored only for a flag to rule him offside. Television pictures showed he was onside.

This was a fantastic performance by the Clarets for whom Stephen Jordan won the man of the match vote.

I think it was probably fair that neither side lost this game. What an incredible night it was at Turf Moor.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Graham Alexander, Wade Elliott, Andre Bikey (Joey Gudjonsson 70), Kevin McDonald, Chris Eagles (Robbie Blake 83), Steven Fletcher (David Nugent 83). Subs not used: Diego Penny, Christian Kalvenes, Fernando Guerrero, Steven Thompson.

Arsenal: Manuel Almunia, Bacary Sagna, William Gallas, Thomas Vermaelen, Mikail Silvestre, Cesc Fabregas (Aaron Ramsey 43), Alex Song, Abou Diaby, Theo Walcott (Eduardo 64), Samir Nasri, Andrey Arshavin. Subs not used: Lukasz Fabianski, Carlos Vela, Jack Wilshire, Emmanuel Eboue, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.

Previous Games against Arsenal

Click HERE to see all previous results against Arsenal