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Mikel Arteta saw his 10-man Arsenal lose a fourth straight home Premier League game when Burnley claimed their first win at the Emirates Stadium.
With his team anchored in the bottom half of the table and without a league win since November 1, Arteta needed an answer against the struggling Clarets but, with Granit Xhaka sent off and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at an own goal, defeat by 1-0. leaves the Gunners languishing in 15th place.
A turgid first half in front of 2,000 fans saw Alexandre Lacazette take the only shot on goal, but the game was animated when Xhaka was fired for an unnecessary fight with Ashley Westwood.
The Burnley midfielder was then on hand to send a corner that Aubameyang, without an open-play goal for Arsenal since the first weekend of the season, headed to beat his own goalkeeper and fix the game.
This is the first time in more than 60 years that Arsenal have lost four straight league games at home and the result saw Sean Dyche’s men end a six-game losing streak at the Emirates.
Burnley wasted a great opportunity to open the scoring and further shake the confidence of the Arsenal team.
Robbie Brady was in space to the right and a good cross found Chris Wood free in front of goal, but the New Zealand international could only open his head when he should have scored.
Rob Holding and Lacazette were close to the hosts, the latter beaten off by a good save from Nick Pope when he reached the end of a Kieran Tierney cross.
That would be the only shot on goal in a boring first half, with Arsenal seemingly given a rocket in the locker room at halftime.
Tierney, Aubameyang, and Bukayo Saka all got stops from Pope before Xhaka’s moment of madness saw him ejected just before time.
After an altercation with Dwight McNeil after a foul by Xhaka, the Swiss midfielder became entangled with Westwood, initially receiving a warning from referee Graham Scott.
Scott was then called in to check the court monitor and improved the penalty when it became clear that Xhaka had grabbed Westwood by the neck.
The red card seemed to stimulate Arsenal a bit and they continued a similar pattern of play as Dani Ceballos replaced the ineffective Lacazette.
But they were trailing from a corner, with Mohamed Elneny booked for knocking James Tarkowski to the ground before the set-set, when he finally swung towards the near post, Aubameyang could only put his head on the ball and turn it into his own net.
Arsenal would come back with 10 men and advanced in hopes of a draw, even Bernd Leno came up for a last-minute corner that was cleared from the line.
The full-time whistle would be greeted with boos from returning fans as Arsenal lost a fourth straight league game at home for the first time in more than 60 years.
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