Alexis Sanchez converted from the spot eight minutes into added time to rescue 10 ten men of Arsenal a 2-1 win over Burnley at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon.
For so long Shkodran Mustafi appeared to be the unlikely matchwinner with his first goal in English football, but Andre Gray temporarily levelled up from the spot in added time.
A first point away to Arsenal, and just a second point on their travels all season, soon evaded the Clarets as Sanchez himself tucked away with the final meaningful kick of the game.
The Gunners were made to work hard for their victory - a fifth in succession on home soil - after a red card was shown to Granit Xhaka soon after finding the breakthrough, but in the end they got the job done to climb into second place in the table following a crazy conclusion to the match.
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The highly-charged match soon settled into its inevitable pattern, as Arsenal took control of proceedings and racked up a number of attempts - 14 in all during the first half - but struggled with that extra bit of quality in front of goal.
After a quieter start than expected, Tom Heaton had to make two saves in quick succession 15 minutes in to thwart Mesut Ozil from range and a header from Laurent Koscielny inside the box.
Ozil had a similar chance soon after when finding himself well positioned to latch on to a weak headed clearance from George Boyd, which he could only direct wide of the target.
Burnley had a couple of openings of their own in the first half, the best of which saw Gray control a Boyd cross and blast into Petr Cech's midriff, while Ashley Barnes also forced the Czech into a sprawling save.
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Sanchez was beginning to see more of the ball in dangerous positions as the goalless first half transpired, sending one curled shot agonisingly wide of the far post and being denied by Heaton from 22 yards out with his other attempt.
It did not take too long for normal service to be resumed after the restart, with Hector Monreal's shot the latest to be kept out by Heaton and Sanchez's effort drifting narrowly over the bar.
Arsenal felt that they should have had a penalty just short of the hour mark when Gray tripped Mustafi inside the box, but just a minute or two later the Gunners were ahead regardless through the German's flicked header into the far corner.
That was the 12th headed goal scored by the Londoners this term, leaving Burnley with an almighty mountain to climb as they had registered just three times on their travels all campaign.
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The Clarets were given an unexpected lifeline 25 minutes from time, however, as Xhaka - with a habit of making strong challenges - went in on Steven Defour with both feet off the ground to earn a straight red from referee Jonathan Moss.
Defour came close to a leveller when sending a free kick towards the top corner for Cech to palm away, but Burnley - who had won three of their last four league encounters prior to today - were struggling to make Arsenal pay for their disciplinary issues.
That all changed in added time as, following a near miss from Francis Coquelin at one end, Burnley were given the chance to equalise from the spot when the Frenchman tripped his opponent inside the box.
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Gray made no mistake to seemingly give his side the rarest of away triumphs, leaving Arsene Wenger furious as he was sent from the touchline for his angry reaction.
Wenger, who seemingly shoved the fourth official when in the tunnel area, then saw his side rescued at the very death thanks to a Sanchez pen after Koscielny - marginally offside - was caught by a high boot from Ben Mee.
Daniel Lewis
