Arsenal close in on title with narrow win over Burnley

LONDON, May 18 : Arsenal cleared the penultimate obstacle in their quest to win the Premier League title with Kai Havertz securing an anxious 1-0 win over Burnley to move them five points clear on Monday.

Havertz broke stubborn Burnley's resistance when he headed in a Bukayo Saka corner shortly before halftime and while Arsenal were nowhere near their best, they are now agonisingly close to a first league title in 22 years.

Arsenal have 82 from 37 games with Manchester City on 77 from 36 and Mikel Arteta's side will be confirmed as champions if City fail to win at Bournemouth on Tuesday.

Should City take the race to the wire, Arsenal would be guaranteed the title by beating Crystal Palace away on Sunday.

"I'm going to be the biggest ever Bournemouth fan," Arteta said of Man City's trip to the south coast.

"I'll be there in front of the TV but I don't know how much I'll be able to watch."

Since losing to City one month ago, Arsenal have dug deep and have now reeled off four successive league wins without conceding a goal to reclaim pole position.

They have also reached the Champions League final and there was a mood of celebration long before kick off in the streets of north London and outside the stadium with the Arsenal team coach greeted by thousands of fans and a fog of red flares.

Expectation hung in the air as the game began, but the reality was Arsenal still had a job to do and while manager-less Burnley are long since down, they were not about to roll over.

Burnley earned two corners inside the opening two minutes and had Hannibal Mejbri shown a little more composure Burnley could have taken a shock lead from one counter-attack.

The apprehension that has been present at many Arsenal home games in the run-in as they try to