Scott Parker makes Burnley ‘control’ admission after falling short against Arsenal

For the first 10 minutes, the early signs were positive – as the Clarets took the game to the table-topping Gunners and looked to put them under pressure.

That was a different approach to the one taken against Liverpool in September, where Parker’s side opted to sit deep on the edge of their box and defend for their lives.

While it nearly worked, with Liverpool only snatching victory with a stoppage-time penalty, playing that way is unlikely to bring about positive results in the longer-term.

So Burnley opted to take a more proactive approach against Arsenal, but still came up short – albeit there’s no disgrace in losing 2-0 to a side that are now six points clear at the top of the table.

When asked how difficult it is to find a way past Arsenal, Parker replied: “Well, it’s very, very difficult. There’s many a team that have had their struggles against them.

“For us, large elements of what we wanted to do was to try and get some sort of control and have an improvement on when we’ve played top sides like Liverpool and like Man Utd. Can we get a certain control here while also being a threat?

“But they’re just a very, very good team. They’re a team that I believe have every single ingredient to go and win the league this year.

“In every facet of their game, defensively, attacking-wise, set plays, they’re a top, top team and we just fell a little bit short.”

While Burnley paid special attention to set-pieces during the build-up to Saturday’s game, they were undone by a Declan Rice corner after just 10 minutes.

Parker, however, admits there’s not a great deal you can do when the delivery and execution is simply that good.

“It’s evident if you don’t have those players [in training],” he said. “And you definitely don’t score as many as Arsenal score.

“It’s not just down to those two players either [Rice and Gabriel, who won the header]. You’ve got a delivery taker that every single time you ask it to be put back post and the runs will be there, it goes back post. You ask it to be put front post and the runs are there, it gets put there.

“You’ve then also got the other element of the timing of the runs, the physicality of the runs and they’re extremely good at it.

“Other than the natural talent of what they have, and the willingness to go and attack the ball, sometimes it’s difficult.”