Arsenal close in on title with narrow win over Burnley

Arsenal cleared the penultimate obstacle in their quest to win the Premier League title with Kai Havertz securing an anxious 1-0 win over Burnley to move them five points clear on Monday.

Havertz broke stubborn Burnley's resistance when he headed in a Bukayo Saka corner shortly before halftime and while Arsenal were nowhere near their best, they are now agonisingly close to a first league title in 22 years.

Arsenal have 82 from 37 games with Manchester City on 77 from 36 and Mikel Arteta's side will be confirmed as champions if City fail to win at Bournemouth on Tuesday.

Should City take the race to the wire, Arsenal would be guaranteed the title by beating Crystal Palace away on Sunday.

"I'm going to be the biggest ever Bournemouth fan," Arteta said of Man City's trip to the south coast.

"I'll be there in front of the TV, but I don't know how much I'll be able to watch."

Since losing to City one month ago, Arsenal have dug deep and have now reeled off four successive league wins without conceding a goal to reclaim pole position.

They have also reached the Champions League final, and there was a mood of celebration long before kick-off in the streets of north London and outside the stadium, with the Arsenal team coach greeted by thousands of fans and a fog of red flares.

Expectation hung in the air as the game began, but the reality was Arsenal still had a job to do, and while manager-less Burnley are long since down, they were not about to roll over.

Burnley earned two corners inside the opening two minutes, and had Hannibal Mejbri shown a little more composure, Burnley could have taken a shock lead from one counter-attack.

The apprehension that has been present at many Arsenal home games in the run-in as they try to edge out City was there again, but they eventually began to exert some pressure.

Eberechi Eze volleyed one effort at Burnley keeper Max Weiss, and Arsenal were howling for a penalty when Saka went down under a clumsy challenge from Lucas Pires.

Captain Martin Odegaard had a shot deflected wide, and from the resulting corner, Arsenal made the breakthrough in tried and trusted fashion. Saka flighted the ball in, and Havertz, preferred to Viktor Gyokeres, glanced in a header. It was Arsenal's 18th league goal from a corner routine.

The tension lifted but it descended again after the interval as Arsenal missed several chances to secure the points safely, with Eze bouncing one effort onto the crossbar.

Havertz was fortunate when a poor tackle on Burnley midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu that earned him a yellow card was viewed by VAR for a possible red, but the relieved German escaped more serious punishment.

Any notion of Arsenal piling up some goals to give themselves a goal difference advantage over City were forgotten as the minutes ticked by, with Arsenal fans fearing a dark late twist in their side's season.

A huge roar heralded the final whistle before Arsenal's players took a lap of honour, and they will now hope Bournemouth can spark an even bigger north London knees-up on Tuesday.

If not, the wait will go on to Sunday.

"There is a game tomorrow, anything can happen in that," Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice said.

"We can't get ahead of ourselves. I've played in the Premier League for too long to know that things can happen. All we can control is ourselves, going out there on Sunday and winning."