Arsenal v Burnley preview: Gunners can close gap on Chelsea

Image: Arsenal v Burnley is live on Sky Sports 1

Arsenal can cut the gap on Chelsea to five points – for at least a couple of hours – when they host Burnley, live on Super Sunday.

The clash at the Emirates is the second of three live games on Sky Sports 1, which is followed almost immediately by Chelsea against Hull City.

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The Gunners have found their form again after back-to-back defeats at Everton and Man City. The 4-0 victory over Swansea was their third victory in the last four games.

Burnley travel to north London with the worst away record in the league.

Only one of Burnley's 26 points this season has been secured away from Turf Moor, at Old Trafford in a 0-0 draw with Manchester United.

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Team news

Arsene Wenger is expected to welcome a trio of players back into his squad.

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Hector Bellerin (ankle), Kieran Gibbs (knee) and Francis Coquelin (hamstring) are all set to be in contention for a return to the side and Olivier Giroud is fit despite being forced off during the win at Swansea with an ankle issue.

Theo Walcott (calf), Santi Cazorla (Achilles), Per Mertesacker (knee) and Mathieu Debuchy (hamstring) all remain sidelined, while midfielder Mohamed Elneny is at the African Nations Cup with Egypt.

Image: Hector Bellerin returns to the Arsenal squad

Burnley boss Sean Dyche is set for a triple injury boost ahead of Sunday's trip to the capital.

All three players missed the midweek FA Cup replay win over Sunderland due to minor knocks but are expected to pass late fitness tests for the Emirates Stadium clash.

Scott Arfield is expected to miss out again after sustaining a knee injury in the original Sunderland fixture, while James Tarkowski could come into contention after an impressive display on Tuesday night.

Jeff Hendrick talks about Burnley's spectacular home form and his desire to score lots more goals for the Clarets

Opta stats

Arsenal have won six of their last seven meetings with Burnley in all competitions (D1), since a 2-0 loss in the League Cup in December 2008.

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Burnley have lost their last five visits to Arsenal in all competitions, since a 1-0 league win in September 1974.

The Gunners have scored exactly three goals in both of their previous Premier League home games against Burnley, with five of strikes coming after half-time.

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Merson's prediction

Just like the Liverpool game, the only thing that can beat Arsenal is their concentration wandering. If Arsene Wenger's side think they can just turn up and win this game there might be a shock. If they go into the game fully focused there is only one winner, and that's Arsenal. Burnley are a completely different animal at Turf Moor but away from home I can't see them troubling the Gunners.

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Betting

Arsenal are Sky Bet's clear favourites at 2/9 with Burnley up against odds of 12/1 to cause an upset and 5/1 to secure their second away point of the season. The Gunners went into the weekend as 11/1 fourth favourites to win the Premier League while their visitors were pushed out to 13/2 to face the drop following an eighth home win of the season.

Image: Olivier Giroud is a 11/4 shot to score first

Olivier Giroud heads the first goalscorer betting at 11/4 closely followed by Alexis Sanchez (3/1), while Andre Gray is rated the visitors' main threat at 11/1 to net first.

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