Premier League life gets no easier for Burnley on Saturday as they travel to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal.
The Clarets remain without a win in nine games since their promotion from the Championship and are rooted to the bottom of the table.
Their baptism of fire continued last weekend as they lost 3-1 to Everton at Turf Moor, with a first Premier League goal for Danny Ings a small silver lining.
Already there seems to be a danger of them being cut adrift, with five points between them and safety, and their position is unlikely to improve this weekend.
Arsenal have not lost a home top-flight match since the first game of last season, although their last three have been draws.
While Burnley desperately hope that Ings can get on the goal trail, the Gunners have one of the country's in-form attackers in their midst in Alexis Sanchez.
The Chilean's gaffe-assisted brace against Sunderland last time out earned Arsenal a 2-0 victory at the Stadium of Light which took them to fifth.
Sanchez has eight goals in 15 appearances in total since joining from Barcelona for £32m in the summer, proving to reluctant spender Arsene Wenger that it really does pay, to pay.
However, reports on Thursday suggested that Sanchez was already unhappy at the club due to an alleged fall out with Mesut Ozil, although the 25-year-old seemed to rubbish these claims with a cryptic tweet.
Ozil remains sidelined, alongside Laurent Koscielny, Mathieu Debuchy, Olivier Giroud and David Ospina, but Jack Wilshere is available again after suspension and Wenger may start both him and Aaron Ramsey in midfield.
The Welshman has been used as a substitute in Arsenal's last three games and is believed to be ready to start. Mathieu Flamini is the most likely to make way, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could be sacrificed to accommodate Wilshere. Nacho Monreal will once again operate as a makeshift centre-back.
One of the problems facing Sean Dyche is that he does not have the squad depth to inject a deflated team with new energy. His options are further limited by injuries to Sam Vokes, Matt Taylor, Stephen Reid and Dean Marney.
The 43-year-old could go with the same side which came unstuck against the Toffees, although he may consider starting Chelsea loanee Nathaniel Chalobah in place of goalless striker Lukas Jutkiewicz to give Burnley an extra body in midfield.
Recent form
Arsenal: WWDLWD
Burnley: LLDLDD
Possible starting lineups
Arsenal: Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Arteta, Wilshere, Ramsey; Cazorla, Sanchez, Welbeck
Burnley: Heaton; Tripper, Shackell, Duff, Ward; Kightly, Jones, Chalobah, Arfield; Boyd, Ings
Sports Mole says: 3-0
Joe Fish
