Arsenal 3-0 Burnley: Alexis Sanchez and Calum Chambers break stubborn Clarets' resistance with two-minute second half double

Alexis Sanchez scored a 70th minute header to break the deadlock against the Premier League strugglers
Callum Chambers followed almost immediately after with a 72nd minute strike to confirms the hosts' win
Sanchez claimed his second, and the Gunners' third, in the 90th minute to put the result beyond doubt
Burnley remain winless in the Premier League this season and are lagging at the bottom of the table
Theo Walcott was given a hero's welcome as he made his return from injury off the bench

Published: 16:52 GMT, 1 November 2014 | Updated: 19:32 GMT, 1 November 2014

MATCH ZONE

Click here for all the heat maps, goals and stats from the Emirates on Saturday

Once more it was down to Alexis Sanchez to save Arsenal. It's a story that's becoming an all to regular occurrence at the moment: when Arsenal are in a spot of bother, up pops the Chilean to rescue his team.

That's what £30million gets you. A match winner - and Sanchez is that in every sense of the word.

He scored two more goals against Burnley on Saturday in a game that for so long looked like it could end in frustration for Arsene Wenger's men.

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Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez celebrates breaking the deadlock against Burnley at the Emirates with a rare header

Sportsmail's Premier League Big Match Stats: Arsenal vs Burnley

MATCH FACTS

Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Szczesny 6.5, Chambers 7, Mertesacker 6.5, Monreal 6.5, Gibbs 7; Arteta 6 (Ramsey 63), Flamini 6.5; Oxlade-Chamberlain 7 (Walcott 80), Cazorla 7, Sanchez 8.5; Welbeck 6.5 (Podolski 80).

Subs: Rosicky, Podolski, Walcott, Sanogo, Martinez, Bellerin, Ramsey.

Burnley (4-4-1-1): Heaton 8; Trippier 6.5, Duff 6.5, Shackell 7, Ward 6.5; Arfield 6, Jones 6.5, Marney 6.5 (Chalobah 80), Boyd 6.5; Ings 6.5; Sordell 6 (Jutkiewicz 67).

Subs: Wallace, Kightly, Gilks, Keane, Mee.

Booked: Boyd.

Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire) - 6.5

Attendance: 60, 012

Star man: Sanchez

The Arsenal boss was handed a fitness boost ahead of kick-off, with left-back Kieran Gibbs passing a late fitness test on his heavily bruised hip to start this encounter.

It took the Gunners a while to get going, Danny Welbeck and Santi Cazorla combining for the latter to send a miss-hit shot at Tom Heaton in the 10th minute.

Indeed, it would have been Sean Dyche who would have been happier of the two managers during the opening exchanges as Arsenal struggled to find any fluency in their play.

Slowly but surely though the home side found their rhythm.

Welbeck thought he'd opened the scoring in the 14th minute as he danced through the entire Burnley back four before firing a 12-yard shot that beat Heaton, but not Kieran Trippier who saved a certain goal as the Arsenal striker's goalbound effort hit him, albeit unwittingly, to stop a certain goal.

Sanchez then fired a 30-yard free kick straight at the grateful Heaton after George Boyd was booked for a lunge on Cazorla.

That's not to say Burnley were without their moments by this stage, with strike duo Marvin Sordell and Danny Ings looking far from overawed.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was proving a potent threat for the Gunners down the right and the England international nearly set up Mathieu Flamini for the opener in the 25th minute - but the Frenchman smashed a half-volley narrowly wide.

But this wasn't the afternoon Arsenal were expecting against a team, who ahead of kick-off had yet to register a win Premier League win this season.

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Sanchez rises to meet the cross with close attention from Burnley's central defenders to head home

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Sanchez lands after putting his header away to put the Gunners 1-0 ahead in the 70th minute

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Sportsmail's Match Zone shows where Sanchez did the majority of his work in the attacking third

Arsene Wenger: Alexis Sanchez dangerous playing in the middle

Wenger felt the anxiety as well, as he paced back and forth from his seat as his side struggled to find a breakthrough.

Had Scott Arfield shot instead of passing to Ings in the 33rd minute, then the afternoon could have got a whole lot worse for the Arsenal manager.

Sanchez, so often the catalyst for the Gunners this season, forced Heaton into a good save moments later with a right foot shot from 20 yards before Burnley skipper Jason Shackell blocked Cazorla's follow-up.

The Chilean, from a similar position, went close again 10 minutes before half-time as he watched his curling effort fly inches wide of Heaton's far post.

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Calum Chambers pounced on the rebound in the box after a shot from Danny Welbeck to make it 2-0

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Chambers celebrates his goal for Arsenal within two minutes of Sanchez's opener as they took control of the game

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Sanchez (left) and Kieran Gibbs (centre) celebrate Chambers' strike as relief swept through the Emirates

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Arsenal's Danny Welbeck breaks free from the Burnley defenders on Saturday at the Emirates Stadium

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Chambers is tackled by Burnley's Danny Lafferty as the young England defender looked to push forward again

He was denied again in the 40th minute when Flamini capitalised on some suicidal Burnley defending to put Sanchez clean through, but yet again Heaton was on hand to keep his side on level-terms.

Anxiety levels were rising; they'd have reached boiling point had Boyd taken full advantage of some Arsenal hesitancy two minutes before the break.

Burnley were more than holding their own as the half-time whistle blew; and that continued in the second period as the Gunners continued to toil.

Oxlade-Chamberlain down the right and Sanchez down the right were seeing plenty of the ball, the breakthrough continued to elude the home side.

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Burnley keeper Thomas Heaton saves an effort from Gunners forward Alexis Sanchez during their Barclays Premier League match

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Burnley's (from left) Michael Duff, Dean Marney, David Jones and Jason Shackell show their dejection after Sanchez's first goal

The former's 25-yard deflected drive that flew narrowly wide in the 60th minute was Arsenal's first moment of note of the second half.

Wenger threw on Aaron Ramsey, who is still not fully fit following hamstring injury, on in place of Mikel Arteta in the 63rd minute in attempt to galvanise his team.

And quite how Arsenal didn't take the lead three minutes later is mystery.

Having found latched onto Sanchez's lofted pass, Calum Chambers fed Cazorla who merely had to tap home from five yards - but somehow the Spaniard conspired to aim his effort at Michael Duff's outstretched foot.

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The home supports couldn't quite believe what they were watching. Surely, they weren't about to draw at home to Burnley?

Thankfully, for them, it didn't come to that as Sanchez - once more - dug his team out of trouble in the 70th minute.

Quite how the Chilean, at 5ft 7ins, rose above Trippier, who's 5ft 10ins, and 6ft 1ins Duff, to head home Chambers' cross from the right will baffle Dyche this morning.

Wenger, though, will be less surprised as he watched a guy he described as a 'street fighter' 24 hours earlier.

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Sanchez scores the Gunners' third goal to wrap up a comfortable win

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Heaton was immense in the Burnley goal but couldn't keep out the late flourish from Arsenal, led by Sanchez, here scoring his second

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Sanchez celebrates his second and Arsenal's third goal in the 90th minute as the Gunners ran out easy winners

And Chambers ensured a comfortable finale for the Arsenal as he scored a second just two minutes later, prodding home from close range after Heaton produced another save to deny Welbeck from Cazorla's corner.

Finally, Wenger could relax; he threw on Theo Walcott for his first appearance in nine months following a serious knee injury in the 80th minute, as well as Lukas Podolski.

And the duo were both denied goals in the dying stages thanks to more heroics from Heaton, while Podolski also crashed a breathtaking volley on to the cross bar before Sanchez scored his second of the afternoon in injury time.