Burnley

Shamoon Hafez, BBC Sport

Burnley suffered their 10th Premier League defeat of the campaign at Arsenal on Saturday and are now rooted to the bottom of the table.

The Clarets cantered to the Championship title last season with 101 points, but have found their return to the top flight a real struggle, collecting just four points from their opening 12 games.

The international break is a notorious time for managerial change but there have been no Premier League sackings of any sort so far this term.

Despite the poor start to 2023-24, BBC Sport understands the support for boss Vincent Kompany is "unwavering" and even a defeat against West Ham United in their next game will not put him under any sort of pressure.

The Belgian has been a galvanising figure at Burnley since being appointed as manager last summer, so chairman Alan Pace is keen to show goodwill and retains his support.

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As Kompany said last week, the two speak regularly and the situation is "calm" - even though there were loud jeers from supporters at the end of the home defeat by Crystal Palace.

When I asked him about that, Kompany replied: "The fans have always been behind this club, on any occasion. It doesn't even need to be in relation to me - it's just been a constant.

"It is a town that lives for the club, which is a little bit different to maybe some other clubs. We have so much support, which we are grateful for."

Every club has a dozen games under their belt in the Premier League.

But what’s the one thing you wish you could change about Burnley's season?

Was it a poor signing? Disharmony in the boardroom? A player sale that should never have been? Or maybe just some patchy form here and there?

Let us know here

Natalie Bromley, No Nay Never podcast, external

In the latter stages of the Sean Dyche era, I often bemoaned the fact that it was very easy to play against us; that teams and coaches had figured us out. In 2023, it couldn't be easier - just get a corner against us.

I love my team, and don't like to throw out unhelpful criticism willy-nilly, but goodness me we are shockingly bad at corners. This is a problem both defensively and in attack, I might add, but it is our inability to defend from a corner that is going to issue us a one-way ticket right back to the Championship. OK, fine, not only our inability to defend a corner, but it's a significant part of the problem.

Perhaps we were spoilt by so many years with Nick Pope (and, before him, Tom Heaton) commanding an area exceptionally well and making it difficult for attackers to get a clear-cut chance. James Trafford and his defence practically roll out the red carpet for opposition teams. I don't think changing the keeper will help this particular problem. There are other benefits to bringing Arijanet Muric back in, but we had similar problems with corners last season. That said, we have to address this problem quickly.

With Wolves, Everton and Bournemouth winning over the weekend, has the bottom three already been determined? I do hope not.

In the meantime, Burnley fans are doing a #MileForLyle to support Lyle Foster in his recovery. That, right now, is far more important.

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BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty has been taking questions from supporters on Monday.

@Mr_RibZ asked: Which three teams do you think will be relegated this season?

Phil answered: Let me refer back to my pre-season predictions and point out that (not for the first time) I may have blundered on these. My three tips were Luton Town, Sheffield United and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

I went for the first two because I simply was not sure they had the quality and Wolves because at the time they were in turmoil after the departure of Julen Lopetegui.

Wolves will not be going down. Gary O’Neil has demonstrated why I believed it was wrong for Bournemouth to sack him. I thought they were outstanding against Spurs and deserved the win.

I thought Burnley would stay up but now I fear for them because Vincent Kompany has not adapted (not yet at least) to playing in the Premier League. They are simply too open and too easy to score against. The danger is they will be pleasing on the eye all the way back into the Championship.

Unless Kompany changes, I really fear Burnley will go down and I still think Luton and Sheffield United will go – although I think they are showing real fight.

We asked for your thoughts on Saturday's game between Arsenal and Burnley.

Here are some of your comments:

Arsenal fans

Robert: Like most Arsenal fans, we love our team. The passion, the performance and the enjoyment they bring to us over 90 minutes is great. I personally admire Arteta for what he has brought to our team. The highs, the lows but overall the belief we will be league champions again one day. Viva Mikel!

Leonard: Perseverance is a quality that Arsenal now have. They know they have a team that can win but with a couple of reservations. Kai Havertz is just too wasteful at this level and David Raya is unconvincing with his feet. I do have faith in Mikel, but just hope his belief in some players isn’t misplaced!

David: Not Arsenal’s best side due to injury, but I felt this was a disappointing performance against a bottom of the table side. Once again we showed that we have no bite up front, and lack an out-and-out goalscorer. It is obvious to most sides that all of our goals come from the wings and they set up accordingly. Three points yes, but why such hard work?

Gerald: What a total waste of money Raya and Havertz have been. It is very hard to understand Arteta's thinking. He must be the only person in England that thinks they should be in the team. My other concern is the amount of injuries to key players will be Arsenal's downfall.

Burnley fans

Tony: Vincent Kompany apparently has a plan - unfortunately it seems to entail losing every game. It is incomprehensible that people continue to make excuses for inadequate performances in the hope that good days are around the corner. They are not. Without results now, the better players will leave, the older players move on, and Burnley will be in the lower leagues.

Steven: Another good performance. We are getting better and that will bring results. There's work to do on defending set pieces. Some big games before Christmas. Believe, Burnley fans!

Dave: I have supported Kompany all the way, but his insistence on sticking with James Trafford is costing us dearly. Yes, he is a good shot stopper, but it is far more important to dominate your six-yard area and Trossard's corners put the ball right on top of him. All three goals were down to the lack of physicality from the goalkeeper.

Jean: Burnley are improving each week, and are playing some good football. It just has not shown in the results yet.

Peter: At least we are improving. We have got to defend set pieces properly.

Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from Saturday's five Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer here.

And Match of the Day 2 brings you a round-up of Sunday's games here.

Listen back to Saturday's commentaries in full on BBC Sounds:

Manchester United 1-0 Luton

Bournemouth 2-0 Newcastle

Listen to Sunday's commentaries here:

Liverpool 3-0 Brentford

Chelsea 4-4 Manchester City

Matthew Howarth, BBC Sport

Vincent Kompany's team have now lost six on the bounce since beating Luton in early October, but they did an excellent job of stifling Arsenal for the majority of the first half and could even have taken the lead themselves.

Zeki Amdouni had a rasping, long-range drive parried away by Gunners goalkeeper David Raya, while Johann Berg Gudmundsson was also denied by the Spanish stopper prior to Leandro Trossard's opener on the stroke of half-time.

Josh Brownhill's equaliser early in the second half was no more than the Clarets deserved, but the manner of Arsenal's second goal will be a source of huge frustration to Kompany and his coaching staff.

William Saliba rose highest to head home Trossard's corner from virtually underneath the crossbar, before Oleksandr Zinchenko's acrobatic effort all but ended the visitors' hopes of salvaging a point.

One of few positives from a Burnley perspective was a first appearance of the season for forward Michael Obafemi, who came on with five minutes remaining after recovering from a long-term hamstring injury.

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany to BBC Sport: "A match of moments. You have to defend well. In general play we did as well as we could in terms of being solid, aggressive and taking our moments. When the second half gets decided on two set pieces, for us it leaves a bitter feeling.

"Take nothing away, we played a fantastic side. The way Mikel has the team working is outstanding. For putting in the performance we did, we’re relying on other factors like luck or individual moments but on the two set plays that wasn’t the case.

"We were solid first half. To concede the way we conceded is avoidable. It’s football. Good teams are there for a reason. For us, hard work.

"Our team is as hard working as you like and resilient as you like. The club are filled with good, hard working people. In the games we’re not expecting to have their level but we want to give ourselves a chance. This team wants to embrace this challenge.

"I would only ever have concern with a team who drop their standards. I wouldn’t allow it. But this team have such high standards. So much work behind the scenes. There’s something unique in this club but it doesn’t translate into results."

Image source, Getty Images

Burnley captain Josh Brownhill: "Arsenal is a tough place to go. We defended very well for the majority of the game. The timing of the first goal kills us. When we go level second half you don't want to concede straight away after. They are stupid goals for us.

"We believe in ourselves. It's a long season. We've had a tough start. We'll go into the break, another good performance, hopefully we can put some more points on the board after the international break."

• Leandro Trossard’s opener was Arsenal’s 1,000th goal at the Emirates Stadium in all competitions. They’re just the third Premier League side to score 1,000 goals at a venue since the 2006-07 season (now 1,002), after Manchester City (1,138 at the Etihad) and Chelsea (1,028 at Stamford Bridge).

• All six of Leandro Trossard’s goals in all competitions this season have been assisted by Bukayo Saka. It’s the most one player has assisted another in a single season for Arsenal since 2015-16 (Mesut Özil, 7 for Olivier Giroud).

• Burnley haven’t scored more than once in 17 Premier League meetings with Arsenal, the most one side has faced any other without ever scoring multiple goals in the competition.

• Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 38 Premier League home games against promoted sides (W33 D5), with manager Mikel Arteta’s first home win against Burnley.

• As well as scoring his first goal at the Emirates Stadium, Oleksandr Zinchenko had more touches (116), made more passes (94), won more aerial duels (7) and made more tackles (5) than any other Arsenal player in this match.

Arsenal moved level on points with Premier League leaders Manchester City courtesy of a hard-fought victory over beleaguered Burnley.

The Gunners had struggled to break down a disciplined Clarets side for much of the first half but broke the visitors' resistance on the stroke of half-time when Leandro Trossard bravely nodded in at the far post for Arsenal's 1,000th goal at Emirates Stadium.

Burnley equalised eight minutes into the second half when Josh Brownhill's low shot was deflected into the net by Gabriel, but the visitors were level for only three minutes before William Saliba headed in Trossard's corner from point-blank range.

Oleksandr Zinchenko completed the scoring with an acrobatic finish into the top corner after Dara O'Shea had inadvertently steered another Trossard corner onto the crossbar.

Were you at the match or did you follow it from home?

Arsenal fans - let us know your thoughts on the game here

How did you rate the side's performance, Burnley fans?

Follow all the reaction here

There are five games being played out in the Premier League on Saturday and we'll bring you every moment.

Follow all the action and reaction here

Live match commentaries:

• Manchester United v Luton Town - BBC Radio 5 Live

• Bournemouth v Newcastle United - BBC Radio 5 Live

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches again this season, against a variety of guests.

This week, he takes on two Manchester City fans - frontman and guitarist Tom Ogden and drummer Joe Donovan from indie band Blossoms - and a Chelsea supporter - Madness singer Suggs.

Sutton's prediction: 3-0

Arsenal have got a few injury issues - Bukayo Saka took a knock during their win over Sevilla in the Champions League on Wednesday, and Martin Odegaard missed that game as well as last weekend's defeat at Newcastle United.

But even if both are absent here, I don't see the Gunners having any problems against a Burnley team who have lost their past four league matches and are only off the bottom of the table on goal difference.

The Clarets' home form in particular is deeply concerning, with six defeats out of six so far, and their away record is not much better.

They play high-risk football when they try to play out from the back, but it doesn't look like their manager Vincent Kompany is going to change anything there. Week by week, though, their confidence is getting knocked by every defeat they suffer.

Tom's prediction: 3-0

Joe's prediction: 3-0

Suggs' prediction: 0-2

Read the rest of their predictions here

Burnley were promoted from the Championship with much fanfare over their attacking style, but a young squad has struggled in the Premier League, managing just one win in 11 matches.

Former Clarets midfielder Glen Little tells The Football News Show that he is not convinced the players can adapt their methods to grind out the results needed.

Watch The Football News Show on BBC iPlayer

Image source, Getty Images

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says he always knew Vincent Kompany would go down the coaching route and praised his transformation of Burnley.

Arteta worked with the Clarets boss at Manchester City when he was assistant manager and Kompany was still playing.

"Not surprised at all," Arteta said about Kompany. "He was already a coach when he played. He was a leader, someone really intelligent who could navigate different scenarios really well.

"He understood the game really well and spoke several languages. You could tell straight away that he was going to be a top coach.

"What they did last year was incredible, especially the way they did it. In this Premier League we all have difficulties, we all have good moments.

"Looking back at the games they played, they deserved much more than what they got. This is the difficulty of this league, sometimes you deserve more.

"The way they have transformed their way of playing and how they continue to play is remarkable."

• Burnley have scored a league-high 38% of their Premier League goals in the opening 15 minutes of games so far this season. Only Chelsea (25%) have conceded a higher share in this time frame than Arsenal this term (22%).

• Having won 10 of their first 11 Premier League games against Burnley, Arsenal have won just one of their last five against the Clarets.

• Arsenal lost and failed to score for the first time in the Premier League this season against Newcastle on Saturday, managing just one shot on target all game. However, they are unbeaten in their past 37 home league games against promoted sides.

• Burnley have lost six of their past seven Premier League games, including four in a row. They have not lost five consecutively in the same top-flight campaign since January 1976.

• In the Premier League, Mikel Arteta has faced 24 different sides as Arsenal manager at the Emirates, and the only one he has failed to beat at least once or see his side score a single goal against is Burnley.

Image source, Getty Images

Vincent Kompany says "in moments like this you have to put the human first and that’s what we did" after Lyle Foster's recurrence of a mental health issue.

The South African forward has been ruled out for an indefinite period of time after reaching out to the club for support.

"Lyle’s been having issues with his mental wellbeing and as a club we’ve very quickly, very naturally, made a decision to fully support him, support his family and offer him access to all the expertise and clinical support that he needs," Kompany said.

"We’re wishing him a speedy recovery and to be in a better place by the time he’s ready to be back with us.

"We were very fortunate that Lyle had been very open with us. From the moment he was open with us, we were able to act and as soon as he said it and showed signs of how severe it was for him, straight away the entire support team within the club mobilised and made sure he could focus on his own recovery.

"In moments like this you have to put the human first and that’s what we did.

"Where Lyle is lucky if you like is that he has a very good network around him. He has a very healthy, supportive family and a club that want to help him not only for the player he is, but for the person he is as well. It’s not a taboo anymore. If people speak up about it they can get help."

At this stage, Kompany said he is unable to indicate when Foster could return for the Clarets.

"I can’t make those assumptions," he said. "At this moment in time he needs support and to be with people who understand how to help him. Whatever we do will be better for him if we put him first."

Millie Sian, BBC Sport

Vincent Kompany has been speaking to the media before Burnley play Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday.

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• He denied Burnley are falling into a habit of losing as opposed to winning games: "I think the desire to win has to be a habit. Everybody speaks about the desire to win, but the key thing is what you do to actually win."

• He hopes his players will "eventually get a surprise result" and facing Arsenal at the Emirates gives the Clarets "a chance to measure themselves" once again.

• Kompany is still enjoying his first season managing in the Premier League: "I didn't sign up to the job to just win the league with 101 points. If you sign up as a manager, there are only very few people that win. It's usually the same guy and he's bald like me. You have to put things into perspective - very few managers win trophies."

• On discontent in the stands last weekend: "The fans have always been behind this club, on any occasion - it doesn't even need to be in relation to me. It's just been a constant. It is a town that lives for the club, which is a little bit different to maybe some other clubs. We have so much support which we are grateful for."

• On Arsenal: "They are a very robust squad in every way: strong physically, good technically and speed in the right areas. They're a team that is well coached and who belong where they are at the moment, at the top of English football."

• Having played under Gunners boss Mikel Arteta when he was Manchester City, Kompany said he was "extremely passionate, driven, dedicated and intelligent" during his time at City and "nobody doubted that he would be a good manager".

• He added: "What he's done at Arsenal is completely in line with his personality. He started with some tough challenges, but he managed to rally the club behind him, and they've built a team that is one of the best in the league."

Follow Thursday's news conferences

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If you look at the table, I do not think anything has really changed from a Burnley perspective after the weekend's results.

They have just got to do their jobs in-house and find the solutions and find the right formula to get the results. Does he [Vincent Kompany] sacrifice some of his beliefs to try and get results? That is going to be interesting.

The pressure is starting to increase on Burnley. They have spent a bit of money, but one win and as a manager you can be safe. Ultimately, the outcome for the end of the season is to avoid relegation.

Kompany has done an absolutely incredible job with the way he has improved the whole football club. With my boy being there, I go a lot and I see the amount of work he is putting in. The board will also see that. They will see the amount of detail he goes into and he is still learning along the way.

He will be hoping Burnley are seen as more of a longer-term project. It is tough to go straight into the Premier League without huge resources compared to others. Yes, they have spent money and bought players, but I expect them to continue their journey to try to find that formula.

After Arsenal, they have an incredible run until Boxing Day. Against Arsenal, let’s be honest, they will go and learn from it. One question will be should they change slightly so they do not lose confidence by leaking a lot of goals? That is something they have had a tendency to do by playing quite openly.

But then they have a block of six games to get their teeth into. As long as they keep a target that is close - and the league table is - then it is more realistic. When it gets to a six-, a seven-, or an eight-point gap, that is when it is worrying for any team.

It hasn’t got to that at the moment.

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