Walcott fires up Arsenal after Fabregas blow

Theo Walcott answered his critics by scoring the key goal in Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Burnley here on Saturday as the Gunners went level on points with Premier League leaders Chelsea.

But Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was left to rue another injury blow after losing Cesc Fabregas with a hamstring problem.

Walcott was heavily criticised by former England winger Chris Waddle in midweek following a mediocre display in England’s 3-1 friendly win over Egypt at Wembley but his goal on the hour helped secure Arsenal’s fourth successive victory to keep the Gunners in the hunt for the English top-flight title.

However, the loss of Fabregas is another headache for Wenger, with the influential Spain midfielder now a doubt for the Champions League last 16 second leg tie against Porto on Tuesday.

Arsenal captain Fabregas fired the hosts ahead at the Emirates Stadium before David Nugent’s equaliser.

But Walcott’s fine strike and a late goal from substitute Andrey Arshavin condemned second-bottom Burnley to a 14th away defeat.

Arsenal are still stinging from the bitter fall-out of Aaron Ramsey’s horror injury at Stoke last weekend and the Wales midfielder has received a staggering 50,000 messages of support.

Arsenal’s players wore ‘Get Well Soon Aaron’ T-shirts underneath their jerseys and Wenger must have privately feared a repeat of the wobble that afflicted the Gunners after striker Eduardo’s injury.

Wenger’s men failed to win their next four games following Eduardo’s broken leg at Birmingham two seasons ago, wrecking their title hopes that season.

So the visit of travel sick Burnley came at an ideal time for Wenger.

The Clarets’ away record of only one point from 15 matches this season tells its own story.

Arsenal could have been coasting within 15 minutes, with Tomas Rosicky and Fabregas both narrowly missing the target.

But they finally eased into the lead 11 minutes before half-time with Fabregas’s 14th league goal of the season.

Burnley captain Graham Alexander was completely bamboozled by Samir Nasri’s clever pass and Fabregas was presented with the easy task of slotting the ball under Brian Jensen.

It was to be Fabregas’s last contribution of the match, though, as he limped off shortly afterwards to be replaced by Abou Diaby.

Nicklas Bendtner squandered two excellent chances early in the second half before Walcott lashed a powerful drive just over the bar.

But Burnley stunned the Emirates into silence five minutes in as Nugent capitalised on dithering defending from Thomas Vermaelen and Mikael Silvestre to lob the ball over Manuel Almunia.

Walcott eased home nerves, however, by firing Arsenal back into the lead just after the hour with a curling shot from just inside the box.

But Arsenal’s defence hardly impressed in the latter stages and a late bombardment from the visitors nearly earned Burnley a shock equaliser.

Almunia flapped at a Chris Eagles corner and substitute Steven Thompson blasted over from a good position.

Arsenal finally made the game safe in added time when Russia international Arshavin hit the target.