Burnley win a sign Arsenal have found cure for away-day blues, says Petr Cech

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James Olley27 November 2017

Petr Cech believes Arsenal may have found a cure for their away-day blues, and the goalkeeper has urged his team-mates to find the consistency required to challenge for the Premier League title.

The Gunners picked up only their second League win on the road this season on Sunday with a 1-0 victory at Burnley, secured courtesy of Alexis Sanchez’s controversial stoppage-time penalty.

Referee Lee Mason ruled that James Tarkowski had shoved Aaron Ramsey, to afford Sanchez the chance to score from the spot and edge a hard-fought game in bitterly cold conditions at Turf Moor.

Arsene Wenger’s side were under the cosh early on as Burnley, who had conceded just two goals at home in the League all season, started brightly. But Arsenal grew into the game after half-time and found a way to win at the death.

The result moved Arsenal into the top four and Cech told Standard Sport: “We said that we wanted to carry on after the big win at home against Tottenham and we needed to back it up. Apart from the Everton win away, and a good [0-0] result at Chelsea, we haven’t been getting results away from home.

“But we got a big win here and now, hopefully, we’ve turned the corner in terms of the away games. We need to carry on with our home form and if we can get as many away points as well then we will climb up the table.

“We just showed that when we play on top of our game we are solid, organised and manage to stick to the plan, and if we do that we can win any game.

“But as I said, we have had a lack of consistency in games at times. We’ve switched off at times and we’ve paid for that in the away games particularly this season.

“But we work to our goals, try to improve in every game and we have to keep going like that.”

Arsenal also moved above Tottenham in the table after they were held to a 1-1 draw against West Brom on Saturday.

The narratives around both clubs this season have favoured Spurs, with Mauricio Pochettino praised for his progressive management and Wenger fighting the perception he can no longer compete for major silverware, yet the Gunners have a point more than their bitter rivals with a third of the season played.

Asked about climbing above Spurs, Cech replied: “It’s only 13 games in, that’s the most important thing, and there’s so many points to be won. You don’t reach your goals after 13 games, you need to carry on for 38 games and show consistency.

“There can be plenty of twists in the table and you see yourselves climb after two wins then have a draw and fall out of the top four pretty quick. It’s packed in there, and I think it will be until the end of the season.”

Manchester City’s 2-1 win at Huddersfield reasserted an eight-point lead at the top of the table, with Manchester United their closest challengers and Chelsea three points further back in third.

Arsenal are 12 points adrift of the leaders, and asked about the club’s title chances, Cech said: “You have to play game by game and not think too much about what’s going on around you, because if you win your games you give yourself a chance. Let’s win our games and see how the others are doing. If the other teams above us keep going, keep winning, then you can’t catch them, but first you need to win your games and keep putting pressure on them.”

Arsenal will look to maintain their perfect League home record this week with back-to-back matches at Emirates Stadium. Huddersfield are the visitors on Wednesday, followed by Saturday’s visit of Manchester United.

Mesut Ozil missed yesterday’s game through illness, with Wenger admitting the midfielder will also be sidelined against Huddersfield.

Alex Iwobi was drafted in as a late replacement, with Ainsley Maitland-Niles required to travel up from London just hours before kick-off once Ozil was deemed unfit to play.

Burnley boss Sean Dyche was seething over the penalty decision but Wenger insisted Ramsey did not exaggerate the contact.

“When you speak to him, he didn’t throw himself on the ground,” said the Frenchman. “He said he wanted to go back and flick on the ball. He was pushed in the back and he has a problem in his neck from the push. He said it was a very strong push.”