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All White Chris Wood is unlikely to have scored a stranger goal, or ever surpassed it for its rarity value.
Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka drew the equalizer for Burnley in the 1-1 draw in the English Premier League at Sunsay (NZT), further hurting his team’s chances of reaching the European qualifying positions.
Peter Powell / AP
Chris Wood celebrates Burnley’s touchdown after Arsenal’s defensive structure collapses.
Xhaka received a pass from goalkeeper Bernd Leno inside the Arsenal penalty area and attempted a risky pass around the Burnley Wood striker to teammate David Luiz with his weaker right foot.
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The ball went straight to Wood and drifted into the net off the forward’s hip in the 39th minute.
“There is always the risk of playing from behind, but this is our style,” Leno said. “I think we have more than enough situations where it works in our favor.”
Wood celebrated with a long finger moving to the corner. In all likelihood he couldn’t believe his luck in a match where Arsenal had splashed the net at the other end.
Peter Powell / AP
Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka heads the ball against Burnley.
That goal nullified a first goal by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the sixth minute in a match that only came to life in the final 15 minutes.
After Arsenal were denied a penalty for an apparent handball against substitute Erik Pieters, the Burnley defender appeared to give away a penalty in a separate incident at 84 when a Nicolas Pepe volley appeared to hit Pieters’s arm and deflect into the crossbar.
Pieters was initially shown a red card, but the VAR looked at the incident and found that the ball hit his shoulder, thus both the awarding of the penalty and the sending off were nullified.
“I’m a fan of VAR,” said Burnley manager Sean Dyche. “We know it has to be optimized, but that is where it is worth its weight in gold.”
Burnley also came close to snatching the victory from him, with Leno first dumping a long-range effort from Pieters before saving with his feet from Wood.
Clive Brunskill / AP
Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates after scoring early.
Then, in the final seconds, Arsenal substitute Dani Ceballos hit the post after a backhand from the mouth.
“It is a really difficult place to get into a difficult field, but I must say that we should have scored the great opportunities we had,” said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
“When you lose the opportunities we had and don’t make decisions, it’s difficult to win football matches.”
On the first penalty incident involving Pieters, when the ball hit his outstretched left arm after coming out of Pepe’s boot, Arteta said: “If that’s not a penalty, then someone has to explain what it is.”
Clive Brunskill / AP
Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scores.
Arsenal started the game nine points behind European spots with only 11 games left. This latest setback may cause Arteta to focus even more on the Europa League, where Arsenal are in the round of 16 and face Olympiakos within two games. The winner of the Europa League qualifies for the Champions League.
Burnley moved seven points out of the relegation zone.
