Dyche: Game Plan Worked Perfectly

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2020-12-13T22:30:03.257Z

Dyche: Game Plan Worked Perfectly

2020-12-13T22:30:03.257Z

Sean Dyche felt that Burnley’s game plan worked perfectly as the Clarets buried their Arsenal hoodoo.

The Clarets earned their first away win against the Gunners since 1974 thanks to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s 74th minute own goal.

It was also Dyche’s first win against Arsenal in 12 attempts, on a night that saw his side climb back out of the bottom three.

And the Burnley boss was delighted with his team’s collective efforts on a night to savour for all Clarets fans.

“There is a bit of noise about Arsenal at the minute, and wen you come to these places, the first thing you want to do is make it awkward for them,” said Dyche.

“You want to make the game as different as possible, and not try and out-possession these teams, because that’s just not going to work.

“You have to make life awkward by being hard to break down, which we did, but then you have to try and stamp your authority on the game.

“That’s not easy in an attacking sense, but we had one golden chance in the first half through Chris Wood and even though we didn’t open them up too much, we looked strong as an outfit.

“Even big players, and they have plenty, find it awkward when things aren’t quite going well and the confidence isn’t flowing through the club.

“But I have the utmost respect for Arsenal and you can’t come here and expect them not to be a good outfit, because they are and we’ve had to work very hard for it.

“We know they have quality individuals and that you are going to have to defend well against them – and I thought we did that.

“They had a good flurry ,after they went down to 10 men, but overall you have to get on the right side of the margins. Earlier in the season we weren’t doing that, but we are getting people fitter and sharper and it’s no surprise that now we are coming out on the right side.”

Aubameyang inadvertently headed Ashley Westwood’s inswinging corner into his own net ensure the Gunners lost a fourth straight home loss for the first time since 1959.

That came after Granit Xhaka saw red against the Clarets for the second time, after grabbing Westwood by the throat.

And then goal came in the immediate aftermath of a similar incident that saw Mohamed Elneny push his hands into the face of James Tarkowski in the penalty, as the visitors lined up to attack the corner, and only receive a yellow card.

“I’m confused because if the first one is a sending off, which by the rules it has to be, then the second one has to be too,” mused Dyche.

“Whether the ball is in play or not, you can’t go around pushing people in the face, when you are not even looking at the ball.

“I’m a big fan of VAR, but they are making it so difficult for themselves because that is so simple and obvious.”

The third clean sheet in five games helped Burnley see out the game to make it just one feat in that time.

Dyche added: “Clean sheets are important to us and we’ve got back to that again.

“But we won’t get carried away because we know we’ve had to fight for everything and we’ll have to do that again in the next game.

“But it’s pleasing for the players after the work they have put in. “We’ve had a tough start, but no heads went down and all the noses are still pointing in the right direction. That was a clear sign of that tonight.”