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After knocking Arsenal out of the Carling Cup quarter-finals at Turf Moor last season during our emphatic 'Capital Punishment' campaign, there was a real sense of optimism around the ground as the largest crowd of the season hoped to see us upset the odds again with another 'big four' scalp. And with the goal scorer from that game on the team sheet once again, cries of "who put the ball in the Arsenal net" rang out to welcome Kevin McDonald back into the starting 11.
In a week where one promoted club's manager came under scrutiny for conceding defeat against one of the top club's in the country, there was no chance of this happening at Burnley as the term 'Giant Killer's' has become somewhat of a familiar phrase in these parts; and with just three minutes on the clock we looked like taking the lead once again. After a collision between Andre Bikey and Cesc Fabregas, Chris Eagles floated a free kick into the box from some 40 yards out, and Clarke Carlisle's header on caught out Arsenal's defence as Thomas Vermaelen attempted to head the ball clear but ended up heading backwards towards his own goal, and if it wasn't for a flailing hand from the scrambling Manuel Almunia to tip the ball onto the cross bar, we would have taken a deserved lead.
We continued to press and dominated the possession in the opening seven minutes. However Arsenal, known for their counter attacking capabilities exploited some poor defending to take a 1-0 lead completely against the run of play with their first chance of the game. A long ball up field was latched onto by Walcott, whose cross was headed clear by Carlisle. The danger wasn't over though as Samir Nasri picked up the ball out wide, and gave it to Fabregas. When he gave the ball away to Bikey on the edge of the box it looked as though the danger was gone, but when Bikey hesitated Fabregas took the ball away from him, and after skipping past Carlisle he tucked the ball into the bottom corner with seven minutes on the clock.
Over the next ten minutes Arsenal totally dominated the game as Burnley looked a little shell-shocked. Minutes after scoring, Fabregas was in again after skipping past the Burnley defence as though they weren't there, but only found the side netting with his volleyed shot from eight yards out.
Despite Arsenal's current dominance, Burnley had a chance of their own, Eagles' free kick from out near the corner flag was whipped in and as Almunia came out to catch, Fletcher jumped highest and could have done better with his header over the bar.
Two minutes later, Burnley's defence were once again caught out with a long ball up field, and as Nasri back heeled the ball to Andrey Arshavin, the Russian shot hard and low across goal from 20 yards out, but with Jensen beaten he found the far post. This seemed to wake Burnley up a little, and we sparked into life. As the ball was launched up field, Bikey headed on for Fletcher who found himself 1v1 with Almunia but the linesman flagged for offside.
However, Burnley got their reward. Jordan took on two Arsenal defenders before finding Bikey 15 yards out, and as he lined up a shot Vermaelen came flying in and fouled the Cameroon international and a penalty was rightly given. The ever reliable veteran Graham Alexander stepped up to take the penalty, and in true fashion he hammered the ball into the roof of the net for his 100th career league goal. Not bad going for a man who played in defence for nearly 20 years!
To the delight of the Burnley fans, the Arsenal captain Fabregas was taken off just before half time due to an injury from an earlier collision with Bikey. However, there was still time for a final chance of the half as Vermaelen looked to make up for his earlier mistake. Nasri's whipped in a great cross and Vermaelen's powerful header from 12 yards was stopped magnificently by the 'Beast' who was beginning to have another one of those nights at Turf Moor.The second half started off a little slow, but it was Burnley again on the attack, and when Eagles picked up the ball on the right wing, he skipped past two Arsenal defenders, getting into the box, but his great run deserved more than he got when his powerful shot rebounded off the post.
Burnley's continued to press, and their dominance almost paid off again when Bikey's cross fell to Fletcher 12 yards from goal, but he couldn't quite keep the shot down as he fired over the bar. Five minutes later Fletcher was in again. A great cross was fired in hard and low by McDonald which found Fletcher five yards out and he tapped the ball into the open net, only for the linesman to flag for offside. Fletcher could feel hard done by though, as later replays showed that he has level when the ball came in.
With time running out, both teams pushed hard for a second, and once again Arsenal almost scored against the run of play. Some fast passing by Arsenal ended with Arshavin crossing the ball into the box but the Burnley defence scrambled to keep the ball out and it eventually fell to Jensen. There were no signs of Burnley holding on for the point however, and they were once again hard done by when Silvestre's blatant handball was given as a free kick on the edge of the box, when it was actually a yard inside the box. A huge let off for Arsenal, not that Arsene Wenger would have seen it.
The game was stretched in the last few minutes as both sides looked for what would surely be a winner, as the game turned into real end to end football. Nobody managed to get it though, and as Mike Dean blew for full time the Burnley faithful applauded our team's magnificent spirit to come from behind against one of the title favourites, and nearly win the game.
On another day some key decisions might have gone for us, and there is no doubting that if we had gone 2-1 up we could well have held on for all three points, but it is another point closer to safety, and another performance to be proud of in a cracking game under the lights at Turf Moor.