Arsenal win thanks to controversial goal in the 93rd minute

Wenger and his team were helpless throughout the official 90 minutes, but still managed to score in the last few seconds to defeat host Burnley 1-0 in round 7 of the English Premier League on October 2.

In the 90+3 minute, the scoreboard at Turf Moor was still 0-0 and both teams were almost certain to leave the field with a point each. However, the fate of the match was decided in the last few seconds, in a situation that promises to cause fierce controversy in the coming days.

Arsenal had a corner kick on the right, the ball was hung into the 16m50 area for Walcott to head the ball to the far side. There, two yellow shirts (the Gunners' away jersey) escaped. Koscielny quickly lifted his leg to kick the ball, the ball bounced off Koscielny's hand before going into the net.Referee Craig Pawson had a good view of the situation, but he still awarded the goal to the away team. The scorer was also counted as Koscielny.

The ball, from Chamberlain's foot, clearly hit Koscielny's hand before bouncing into the net, as Arsenal sealed a 1-0 victory in injury time. Photo: SkySports.

Arsenal players and their fans exploded with excitement, while on the home side, some were stunned, some held their heads in regret.

Losing the decisive goal in the last few seconds and from the situation where the opponent let the ball touch their hand was a somewhat cruel ending for Burnley, especiallyIn the match, the newly promoted team played their best game.

With a two-layer defence of four men each, keeping the formation very well, both when dropping deep and when pushing forward, Burnley built a real "bus" in front of Tom Heaton's goal. Arsenal's attacking stars, it is not an exaggeration to say, had an afternoon of tears, because their efforts all ended in hopelessness, like hitting their heads against a stone wall.

Burnley also proved that it was no coincidence that they shocked the giants Liverpool 2-0 in the second round at Turf Moor. Against Arsenal, despite their defensive strategy, every time they advanced, coach Sean Dyche's students made the visitors' defense sweat, with a simple trick - taking advantage of set pieces, pouring high balls to take advantage of the aerial ability of many tall players.

Arsenal were repeatedly scared by Burnley's aerial attacks and only thanks to the miraculous performance of goalkeeper Petr Cech, were they able to avoid two goals from such situations. Photo: Reuters.

In the first half, Sam Vokes, in the 38th minute, headed wide when Arsenal's defense stopped because they thought the offside trap had been successfully triggered. In the second half, Burnley had three similar situations, and twice forced Petr Cech to show all his skills to block headers from Gudmundsson in the 58th minute, and Michael Keane in the 74th minute. In the 60th minute, when Cech was helpless, Walcott was there in time to block Voke's header, saving Arsenal from conceding.

This is a match where Arsenal, who are theoretically stronger, are considered to be much stronger, because of the quality of their team as well as their statistics of being unbeaten (22 wins, 3 draws) in their last 25 encounters with newly promoted teams. The "Gunners" also have another big motivation: to find a victory to give to coach Wenger, who just celebrated his 20th anniversary of starting his job leading Arsenal the day before.

However, the reality at Turf Moor was harsher than the visitors expected. Arsenal only excelled in ball possession, often above 65%, and wowed the crowd with many skillful and technical moves. But what was needed most to make the difference was the suddenness of the final touches, which Wenger's students failed to do.

Many times, the ball was passed straight to the opponent's feet by Arsenal players, or passed to the back of a teammate. In the whole first half, they only had one shot on target, and in the second half, despite more attacks, Arsenal only created two more chances. But on an unlucky afternoon, Alexis was once denied by Tom Heaton, and another volley went wide.

Alexis and Arsenal's attacking stars always had difficulty with Burnley's dense defense, which was very good at blocking spaces. Photo: SM.

Wenger was constantly angry, impatient and shouting on the sidelines, but his students on the field still played like chickens with their hair tied. Even when the "Professor" adjusted, bringing in Elneny to increase the fighting power of the midfield and improving the speed of the attack with Chamberlain, the situation did not change.

But at their most desperate moment, luck and to some extent the referee smiled on Arsenal, helping them win with a controversial goal in the last seconds. Thanks to that, Wenger's team extended their winning streak in the Premier League to five matches, jumping to third place, with 16 points, just two points behind leaders Man City.

According to VNE