It was a night when fervour and hope ran into yet more Arsenal anxiety. This was supposed to be straightforward, wasn’t it? Burnley’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed on 22 April. They sacked their manager, Scott Parker, shortly afterwards and came here under the caretaker, Michael Jackson. They had avoided defeat only three times in their previous 10 league matches, drawing all three.
It was not straightforward. Arsenal laboured under the spectre of the mother and father of all calamities. It nagged away during a traumatic second half. Everybody knew that with the margins so tight it might take only one flash from Burnley; a bolt from the sky blue. If Arsenal do stagger over the line and win their first title since 2004, they will have done it in nerve-shredding fashion.
