No inquest into Arsenal defeat says Dyche

There won't be an inquest in to the heaviest defeat of the season at the hands of Arsenal, declared Sean Dyche.
Sam Vokes reacts after going close with a second half headerSam Vokes reacts after going close with a second half header
Sam Vokes reacts after going close with a second half header

There won’t be an inquest in to the heaviest defeat of the season at the hands of Arsenal, declared Sean Dyche.

The Burnley boss announced that there won’t be any over reaction to the 5-0 defeat against the Gunners on Sunday, in what marked Arsene Wenger’s final game in charge at the Emirates.

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With European football already signed, sealed and delivered for the Clarets next season, and with the hosts celebrating a historic occasion, Dyche conceded that there was more on the game for the opposition.

Arsenal, who will soon appoint a new manager for the first time in more than two decades, cruised in to a two-goal lead at the interval, courtesy of goals from Patrick-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

Sead Kolasinac made it 3-0 after the break, Alex Iwobi added a fourth while Gabon international Aubameyang netted his second to round off the scoring.

It was a mixture of us having nothing to play for after that news yesterday and having that edge you really need to take on a game,” said Dyche.

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“They had something to play for, which is the legend that is Arsene Wenger, and rightly so. They turned up, they gave a performance.

“He’s probably enjoyed it and a bit frustrated thinking ‘that would have been nice a bit more often’.

“They’re a top class group of players. We know where we are, that was a sign of it today, they were clinical.

“They’re passing and movement was as good as recent performances have shown and when they do that they’re very effective.

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“But I’m certainly not going to overthink or over question my players, they’ve been exceptional this season and usually over the course of a season you get one or two of those knocks along the way.”

Dyche silenced any suggestions that there was a lack of effort from his players but accepted that there was more on the game for the home side which brought an ‘edge’ to their performance.

That proved to be the differentiating factor as Arsenal looked to give Wenger the perfect send off following a 22-year reign that has brought three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups and as many Community Shields.

“The edge that you need when there is something on everything, it can only be one per cent sometimes, it only needs to be a fraction off and I thought there was a bit of that,” Dyche said.

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“They were clinical, we’ve seen them do it to better sides than us, when they’re on it they find passes in the box and clarity in the box. They can hurt teams as they did today.

“But you add in that softening off of our performance and that’s a bad mixture for us and a good mixture for them.

“We played our part unfortunately in what people thought the story was meant to finish like.”

He added: “The fact there was nothing on the game for us changed it.

“And Barnesy was a loss, he’s been fantastic for us.

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“But I was really pleased with a couple of the performances, I was pleased with Jeff Hendrick. We had pockets, straight after half-time we came out well.

“The goal before half-time was a real killer, it’s hard enough against these when you’re 1-0 down but to go 2-0 down it’s very diffcult to come back from that.

“We tried, there was no lack of effort, but there’s an edge that is important in players and they had it today, they wanted to perform and to win for their manager to leave on a high note.”