Robbie Earle has revealed that he found something ‘funny’ in the build-up to Arsenal’s win over Burnley on Saturday afternoon.
The Gunners strolled to victory over the Clarets, courtesy of goals from Viktor Gyokeres and Declan Rice.
The result saw Arsenal establish a six-point lead over the chasing pack in the Premier League, after Manchester City beat Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon.
Many pundits are now tipping Mikel Arteta’s team to win the league comfortably, and it’s no surprise given how easily they seem to be cruising past every opponent they come up against.
Robbie Earle says he found it ‘funny’ that Arsenal used to get physically dominated by Burnley
Arsenal can match a 122-year club record on Tuesday night if they beat Slavia Prague.
They can become the first Gunners side since 1903 to win eight successive games without conceding, which speaks to the ridiculous defensive stability Arteta has instilled at the Emirates.
The North Londoners are physically dominant in almost every match they play, while they aren’t remotely susceptible to long balls or generally direct styles of play.
Speaking on the 2 Robbies Podcast, Earle highlighted how Arsenal used to struggle playing against Sean Dyche’s direct Burnley teams, but that they’re now extremely comfortable playing with this style themselves.
He claimed that he found it ‘funny’ when thinking about this in the build-up to the clash at Turf Moor.
“It was funny, Rob, because as I was watching sort of the build-up to the game,” he said.
“In this game, my mind took me back to, do you remember those days of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal going to Sean Dyche’s Turf Moor, and it was always like, Dyche couldn’t wait to get his hands on it, and they’d be smashing in, and it’d be long balls, up to the big strikers and all that stuff.
“I kind of felt this Arsenal was so much different, and to be fair, the other Arsenal’s often got results, but just their football, just their composure, just their possession, it was almost like turn up, did the job, got the points. So easy. I thought it was straightforward.”
Arsenal are the most physical team in the Premier League
As Earle alluded to, Arsenal used to be known as a physically vulnerable team with a ‘soft touch’.
Opposition teams used to deliberately try to leverage their physical advantage over the Gunners, by playing long balls forward and by using every set-piece opportunity to launch the ball into the box.
Arteta has completely changed this. Nowadays, the Gunners are arguably the most athletic and robust team in the Premier League.
They’re capable of making a game physical and winning it by prevailing in duels, both on the ground and in the air.
The likes of Gabriel Magalhaes, Rice, William Saliba, Mikel Merino, Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori are all immensely strong, while the Gunners’ squad is always freakishly fit. Combine this with their technical quality, and there’s very little opposition sides can do to counteract them.
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