Burnley are “eager” and “have no fear” about facing Arsenal

Burnley are in London to play Arsenal at the Emirates this afternoon after having had a turbulent couple of months due to Covid, and have had 6 games postponed so far, including their last two. So they have had a couple of weeks to get everyone back to fitness, and the Clarets keeper Nick Pope thinks the team is now back in good spirits ahead of today’s game.

Pope told the official Burnley website: “It’s been a little bit strange going through this season, well from December onwards nothing has been quite normal.

“You just have to adapt to it, that’s something that’s important, like myself I was off with it.

“You can’t sit at home and watch box sets for two weeks and have all the leftovers from Christmas, you have to look after yourself.

“I think that is something that we have been good at, keeping on top of ourselves and the staff have been really supportive too.

“The lads are eager to get back to it and you get that kind of excited feeling, after having a long break, but all the lads are looking forward to getting back to it.”

This could be a bit ominous for Arsenal, as we are still feeling the effects of our injury and Covid problems, and have been looking very fatigued in recent games. But hopefully Arteta will have a few players back to help with the workload, and I am sure the boss can’t wait for the break that is coming.

Xhaka gets sent off against Burnley last season

Burnley have a bad long term record against Arsenal, but they managed to take all three points at the Emirates last season, so that is another reason why Burnley are not feeling despondent today. Pope continued: “After a sticky start last season, we went to Arsenal and got a great result, we hung in there a bit, they had a man sent off, but we managed to see it out well.

“Over the past few seasons we have picked up results against the top six sides, winning at (Manchester) United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, so we can do it.

“It’s important for us to realise that the belief is there, and playing with no fear and expressing ourselves out there on Sunday.”

It certainly sounds like Burnley are up for it today, let’s hope that Arsenal have as much energy and are as lively as our opponents…

Watch Mikel Arteta talk about Burnley and the pressure on the race for Top Four

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