Gunners ready for a sunshine break in Dubai
Arsenal will travel to Dubai after today’s clash with bottom club Burnley as Mikel Arteta aims to have the “best possible” break to get a fully fit squad.
The Gunners are in the mix for a top- four finish this season, but have suffered a dip in form with a number of key players unavailable.
A mixture of injuries, positive c o ro n a v i r u s cases, suspension and the Africa Cup of Nations has left Arteta with depleted ranks – leading to last weekend’s north London d e r by at To t t e n h a m being postponed.
Bu r n l e y have also struggled with numbers of late and the Clarets have not played a league game since January 2.
Arsenal have yet to win in 2022, losing in the last seconds to runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City on New Year’s Day before a defeat at Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup third round.
That was f o l l ow e d with a goalless draw at Liverpool in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi- final, with the Reds winning the second leg 2-0 on Thursday night.
Asked h ow m u c h Arsenal needed a break, Arteta replied: “It is why we want to play on Su n d a y because we want to take away the disappointment of Thursday and the best way to do that is to play and perform and win.
“It is always a big challenge to play against Burnley and the experience we have with that team, it’s always that they do really well what they do.
“They cause a lot of difficulties and we’re going to have to be ready to compete and play the game we want to.
“After that we have the break, we know that and we use it in the best possible way to get back the amount of players we need to compete at this level.”
Part of that break will be spent in the Middle East with a warmweather training camp in Dubai planned.
Sean Dyche has urged his offensive players to step up in the fight against relegation but is sure Burnley have more goals in them than they have shown so far this season.
With Maxwel Cornet still away at the Africa Cu p o f Na t i o n s and Chris Wood settling in at Newcastle, Burnley will head to Arsenal with a squad that has scored just six Premier League goals between them.
Attempts to replace Wood are continuing, but given how difficult the January transfer window can be, Dyche is keen to find in-house solutions.
“I think what we’ve got is more goals than we’ve offered,” Dyche said.
“It sounds simple, but I do. I think we’ve got more goals than we’ve offered so far, I think we’ve got players who can be more productive.”