FA Premier League
ARSENAL 1 (Havertz 37)
BURNLEY 0

THIS was the match where Arsenal were supposedly going to rack up goals for the goal difference column, but by injury time the Gunners seemed relieved simply to hear the final whistle against already relegated Burnley.

Nobody ever seems to ask Mikel Arteta whether he is worried that his team has not found the net enough times in the five-match shootout with Manchester City which will decide the destination of the title. Instead, the Arsenal manager seems perfectly content with it being 1-0 to the Arsenal.

It is, of course, the famous scoreline associated with George Graham, who twice made the club champions of England — but was often burdened with accusations that his operation lacked livewire flair and concentrated instead on defensive steel.

And perhaps it is easier now to draw comparisons with that era — Bould and Adams alongside Saliba and Gabriel — than with the imagination and colour of Arsene Wenger’s teams. It is hard to imagine Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and Thierry Henry labouring quite so much over the recent puzzles presented by Newcastle, Fulham (second half), West Ham and now Burnley.

In what was supposed to be a pulsating race to see who could outscore the other, Arsenal have managed only six goals across those four matches — half of them in the first half against Fulham — but crucially they have not conceded in the league since Erling Haaland smuggled in the winner for City against them at the Etihad last month.

It does not always make for the most appetising watch, but when you have waited 22 years for a league title, nobody inside the Emirates will care how first place is secured. Even so, with the prospect of finally winning the trophy opening up before Arsenal, there remains an obvious need for a more potent attacking edge in the years ahead.

The fans whose nerves are being shredded by these narrow margins would surely prefer a more clinical approach in front of goal, and heaven forbid what they will be like at Selhurst Park on Sunday, with Arsenal still needing victory to claim the prize.

No London derby — as the trip to West Ham showed last week — is a gimme, and the leak of reports that Pep Guardiola is ready to leave Manchester City will only ratchet up the pressure another notch. The motivation for his players to send him off with a bigger prize than the FA Cup will be immense.

So how did Arsenal get here? Match 37 of 38 was decided, as might have been predicted, by Kai Havertz steering in a Bukayo Saka corner shortly before half-time. Arsenal had become lost in short-corner routines too intricate to make much sense before Saka finally lost patience and swung one into the box — a peach of a delivery that the German forward would have struggled not to plant into the net.

Tension had already been building after Leandro Trossard’s low shot struck the post and, in another near miss, Saka whipped over a cross from such a tight angle that it almost looped in.

You could feel the supporters’ desperation for Arsenal to march forward and secure the win with two, three or even four goals. Perhaps if they had broken through again in the first 10 minutes of the second half then Burnley might have collapsed. Eberechi Eze had a couple of decent openings but met both with awkward finishes, while there were also various low-key penalty appeals.

But it was hardly an onslaught, and Arteta appeared content enough with the visitors firing speculative efforts over the bar. Burnley never really looked like scoring, but Arsenal — in nine minutes of injury time — had still left themselves vulnerable to a nervous finale where a deflection, unfortunate bounce or penalty decision could have derailed them.

They might have made life even harder for themselves had Havertz been sent off for what looked a red-card offence — a lunging late challenge on Burnley’s Lesley Ugochukwu — but he escaped both the referee’s verdict and VAR intervention. Arsenal have still yet to have a player sent off this season, not least because Arteta often withdraws players once they have been booked. Havertz was quickly substituted.

And so it was a strange end to league football at the Emirates Stadium this season. Relief at the final whistle was followed by a lap of appreciation in front of the supporters — too late in the evening this time for the players’ children to join them and completed with the knowledge there is still so much left to do. Palace away, then Paris St Germain, the French champions, in the final of Europe’s showpiece competition in Budapest.

It is glory — or a heap of pain — across the next 14 days.

“I knew it was going to be tough,” said Arteta afterwards.

“I think in the first half we played some of the best football we’ve played this season. We were very unfortunate not to score two or three goals, and then it was the story of the season as well, that if we cannot do that then we have to make sure we are extremely efficient at defending certain moments. That’s not giving anything away to the opponent and winning the three points.”

He added: “I think the desire that every single player shows in their defensive duties, their behaviours, the way they work for each other is phenomenal. It’s a lot of work, put in by all the coaches as well, and we all know the importance of that and how many results and wins we have because of that.”