By Martyn Herman; Reuters.
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.
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 Burnley are long since down, they were not about to roll over.
The visitors 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 and keep Man City at bay was present again but eventually the hosts exerted some pressure.
Eberechi Eze volleyed one effort at Burnley keeper Max Weiss and Arsenal were howling for a penalty when Saka went down under 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 rose to glance home a header from close range.
The tension was lifted but it descended again after the interval as Arsenal missed several chances to secure the points safely, while Burnley remained a threat.
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 down.
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.