Arsenal got back to winning ways as they saw off Burnley 3-1 in Gameweek 18’s Saturday lunchtime fixture.

With the matches that followed offering little in the way of Fantasy returns, success for managers this week largely depended on which Gunners were owned.

We’ve gone over the top talking points from the Emirates Stadium in this latest Scout Notes article.

Arsenal 3-1 Burnley

Goals: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang x2 (£11.5m), Alex Iwobi (£5.5m) | Ashley Barnes (£5.6m)

Assists: Sead Kolasinac (£5.0m), Alexandre Lacazette (£9.6m), Mesut Özil (£8.0m) | Kevin Long (£4.2m)

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.5m) owners were rewarded for their patience in Gameweek 18 as the Arsenal striker finally delivered the double-figure haul he has promised for some time. Not surprisingly, no player in Saturday’s match had more shots on target than Aubameyang, which underpinned his success. After comparing favourably in our recent Captain Sensible article, he scored twice in the Gunners’ 3-1 win over Burnley. With the number of chances he was having in recent weeks, Aubameyang had been unlucky not to find the net since the north London derby Gameweek 14. It looked as if his misfortune would continue on Saturday as he was denied by James Tarkowski‘s (£4.7m) goal-saving challenge in the opening minutes. But, in the 13th minute, the Gabonese international broke the deadlock after an excellent clip back from Sead Kolasinac (£5.0m).

That was good news also for those who kept faith in the Bosnian wing-back, as he had been a slight injury doubt ahead of the match. Kolasinac was arguably one of Arsenal’s best players at the Emirates Stadium, constantly asking Burnley questions with surging runs down the left wing and into the opposition box. Indeed, no player created more chances in the game than Kolasinac.

Alexandre Lacazette (£9.6m) started alongside Aubameyang for the second home match in a row. That possibly indicates that Emery does prefer using them together at the Emirates Stadium, rather than when Arsenal are away from home. The Frenchman’s owners may have been hoping for more than just an assist but it was a solid enough performance from Lacazette nonetheless. He looks likely to start against Brighton on Boxing Day as his minutes were managed in the 78th minute, coming off for Alex Iwobi (£5.5m). He wasn’t too happy about it either, visibily annoyed to have been substituted, which also bodes well for his desire to score in Gameweek 19.

“I didn’t see (him being angry). I think he is happy with our victory. He wants to score. When a striker doesn’t score I like he is angry with this situation. He worked very well today. I think he is going back to the best Lacaztte.” – Unai Emery

The fact that Lacazette was brought off with Arsenal leading the game, while Aubameyang was allowed to complete the 90 minutes, does cause some concern for owners of the former Borussia Dortmund man. Unai Emery may have left him on the pitch to avoid denying him a hat-trick, but the fact remains that Aubameyang has now played 270 minutes in the space of seven days. Lacazette getting some time off does mean he could start in his colleague’s place on Boxing Day.

Emery initially lined his Arsenal side up in a 4-3-1-2 formation with Sokratis Papastathopoulous (£5.1m) and Nacho Monreal (£5.4m) at centre-back, Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles (£4.4m) flanking them. However, Monreal was forced off with a muscle injury in the 37th minute and had to be replaced by Stephan Lichtsteiner (£4.6m), further adding to Emery’s concerns at the back. At that point, he switched to a back-three with Granit Xhaka (£5.3m) dropping to centre-back alongside Lichtsteiner and Sokratis while Kolasinac and Maitland-Niles pushed on as wing-backs.

“Muscular, we made the change to not take a big risk with him. I don’t know if he can play at Brighton. Koscielny can play and Mustafi is close.” – Unai Emery

The ongoing defensive crisis at Arsenal continues to hurt their clean sheet potential. Coming into Gameweek 18, no team had registered fewer shots on target away from home this season than Burnley. However, the Clarets troubled their illustrious hosts on several occasions, even recording more chances considered to be big by Opta. It was, therefore, no surprise when Ashley Barnes (£5.6m) fired Burnley back into the game in the second half. That means that the main reason Kolasinac has Fantasy appeal is his attacking threat, rather than anything Arsenal can offer defensively.

Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£5.7m) and Robbie Brady (£5.4m) were not fit enough to play the match, which forced Burnley into a 5-3-2 formation. While both wide-men could return in Gameweek 19, Sean Dyche may opt to keep that shape when Everton come to Turf Moor on Boxing Day as it did allow his side to attack Arsenal with numbers through the middle. However, we were unable to get any fitness updates from the Clarets manager as the majority of his press conference, doubling up as the one in advance of Gameweek 19, was dominated by his strong opinions on diving in football.

Arsenal XI (4-3-1-2): Leno; Kolasinac; Monreal (Lichtsteiner 37′), Sokratis, Maitland-Niles; Guendouzi, Xhaka, Elneny (Torreira 59′); Özil; Lacazette (Iwobi 78′), Aubameyang.

Burnley XI (5-3-2): Hart; Taylor, Mee, Tarkowski, Long, Bardsley (Lowton 83′); Hendrick, Cork, Westwood; Wood (Vokes 77′), Barnes (Vydra 77′).

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