Havertz header puts Arsenal one win from a first Premier League title in 22 years
Kai Havertz's first-half header gave Arsenal a tense 1-0 win over Burnley at the Emirates on Monday night and pushed them within a single victory of their first Premier League title since 2004.
The Germany forward met Bukayo Saka's corner on 37 minutes after two short routines had broken down. Saka's pinpoint delivery into a crowded six-yard area was the 18th goal Arsenal have scored from a corner in the league this season, accounting for more than a quarter of their 69 league strikes.
Arteta's side now five clear with one to play
The win lifts Mikel Arteta's side to 82 points from 37 games, five clear of Manchester City who have played one fewer match. Arsenal travel to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on the final day. The title can be sealed before then if Pep Guardiola's side fail to win at Bournemouth on Tuesday night. Andoni Iraola's team have not lost at the Vitality in their last eight league matches since Arsenal beat them 3-2 on the south coast in January.
The assist for the breakthrough was Saka's 50th in the Premier League. Only Dennis Bergkamp on 94, Thierry Henry on 74, Cesc Fabregas on 70 and Mesut Ozil on 54 have more for the club. He had earlier been denied a spot kick when Lucas Pires brought him down at full stretch in the 34th minute, with referee Paul Tierney and the VAR both staying out of it.
A nervy night and a lucky escape
Leandro Trossard struck the foot of the post in the first half and Eberechi Eze cracked the underside of Max Weiss's crossbar shortly after the interval, but Arsenal could not stretch the lead. The closer the clock crept to full time, the more the 60,274 inside the Emirates felt every loose pass.
Havertz himself was fortunate to still be on the pitch after a high boot that landed on the back of Lesley Ugochukwu's calf in the 65th minute. The VAR again declined to intervene. Burnley, already relegated and with Mike Jackson in interim charge since Scott Parker's mutual-consent exit at the end of April, never looked likely to find the goal that would have kept the title race breathing for City.
The biggest twelve days of the Arteta era
For a club that has finished second in each of the last three seasons, the route from here is unfamiliar. A win over Palace next weekend would seal a first championship since Arsene Wenger's unbeaten Invincibles in 2003-04, and Arteta then takes his squad to the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on May 30, a competition Arsenal have never won. Whatever City do at the Vitality on Tuesday, the next twelve days are shaping up as the biggest stretch in the club's modern history.
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