Relegation strugglers Burnley welcomed second placed Arsenal to Turf Moor in Saturday's Premier League evening kick-off. The Gunners had a tough away trip to the north West of England, where the defending champions Manchester City had recently lost 1-0 against Sean Dyche's side; so the hosts were not to be taken lightly.

Per Mertesacker made a last-ditch sliding block to deny an oncoming shot from close range, hurting himself in the process as he put his body on the line to avoid David Ospina being tested early on.

Arséne Wenger's men broke the deadlock in the 11th minute, courtesy of Aaron Ramsey's eighth goal in all competitions this season, on his 150th Premier League game. Alexis Sanchez was initially denied twice, as well as Mesut Özil before the ball trickled into the Welsh midfielder's path - he rifled one into the top corner of the net, out of goalkeeper Tom Heaton's path.

A succession of fouls were given in Burnley's favour, including a free-kick 25 yards out from goal. Full-back Kieran Trippier took the strike, which swerved past the free-kick wall and curled towards Ospina's far post, but the Colombian goalkeeper made a good stop to parry the shot to safety.

In the 24th minute, Ben Mee was the first player to go into the referee Mike Dean's notebook for a cynical foul on Aaron Ramsey - pushing him to the ground as he accelerated past him with the ball on the counter.

Then just minutes later, Santi Cazorla almost doubled Arsenal's lead with a well-taken free-kick effort from virtually the same distance as Trippier. Instead of curling it low and hard past the wall, he swerved the ball high over the wall which curled towards Heaton's far post, where he was scrambling to try and get a hand to the shot.

The referee received a lot of abuse from Burnley supporters as he was arguably quick to blow his whistle for a few questionable fouls, and Arsenal did their best to contain the hosts' threat with a one-goal advantage in their favour.

Francis Coquelin was an instrumental part of Arsenal's defensive work in the middle of the park; breaking up play as usual, passing the ball towards the frontmen, and making key interceptions to avoid Burnley getting forward at will.

As more strong challenges came flooding into the match, the clock ticked down and eventually the referee blew his whistle for the half-time interval. Arsenal deserved their first-half lead, and showed maturity not to continue attacking and attempt to double their lead forcefully - instead doing it naturally.

With the second-half underway, no changes were made by either manager. Arsenal had to slow down the tempo of the game in the early goings of proceedings in the second 45, as Burnley pushed bodies forward and looked dangerous in and around the box. Trippier whipped in a dangerous delivery for the Gunners backline to deal with, and striker Ashley Barnes had a snapshot comfortably saved by Ospina at the end of that spell of sustained pressure.

Arsenal continued to dominate the possession and passing stats as their technically-gifted players passed their way through the hosts' midfield, something which was frustrating to watch for Sean Dyche as his team were working tirelessly and ultimately trying to feed on scraps to capitalize on Arsenal's mistakes. By the 60th minute, Wenger's men had recorded more than double Burnley's passes in the game, as well as 67.5% possession to Burnley's 32.5%.

A lovely piece of skill and one-touch football from The Gunners almost resulted in another goal for the visitors; Özil spotted the run of Ramsey on the edge of the box on his right, flicked the ball towards him and his attempted volley effort was well blocked in the end by a sliding block from full-back Mee, who stopped a good goal-scoring opportunity. The corner-kick was drilled into the box and partially cleared away, but Cazorla's stinging drive flew inches over the crossbar.

Burnley came narrowly close to equalising on two occasions within minutes. First, Mee got past Bellerín brilliantly on the flank before delivering a teasing cross towards George Boyd - who only had Ospina to beat but was unable to latch onto the ball, missing it completely as Arsenal hoofed the ball clear. Then, Trippier's ball into the area found Sam Vokes, whose flick-on for Ings produced an acrobatic effort from the Englishman, but Ospina did well to stay equal to the strike.

With ten minutes to go, Wenger made his first substitution of the match. Olivier Giroud came off for Danny Welbeck, and although the in-form Frenchman did not get on the scoresheet, he had a solid game and worked hard for the team, holding the ball up well in possession and adding an aerial threat for the Gunners to utilise.

Welbeck was unlucky not to double the lead and virtually seal the result, after being set through with a one-on-one chance inside the penalty area. He weaved past his marker, delayed the initial shot and then his effort deflected past Heaton as well as the post out for a corner-kick.

Burnley pushed to equalise as the fourth official signalled for three minutes of stoppage time to be added on. Although both sides made substitutions with minutes left to play, Arsenal held firm and secured a vital victory to push them within just four points of league leaders Chelsea, who have two games in hand against QPR and Leicester City.

Player Ratings:

Burnley (0) Arsenal (1)
Heaton 6 Ospina 7.5
Trippier 7 Bellerín 6
Shackell 5 Mertesacker 6
Duff 5.5 Koscielny 6
Mee 6 Monreal 7
Jones 5 Coquelin 8.5
Arfield 5.5 Ramsey 8
Boyd 5.5 Cazorla 7
Barnes 6 Özil 6.5
Vokes 4.5 Alexis 7.5
Ings 6 Giroud 6
Substitutes:
Taylor - Welbeck 6
Chambers -