Burnley vs Arsenal result: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang double seals victory and share of Golden Boot

All roads lead to Azerbaijan for Arsenal but the detour via Burnley allowed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to claim a share of the Premier League’s Golden Boot.

Aubameyang scored twice and played with a real hunger throughout as he joined Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane on 22 goals. Yet rather than share top billing, the man from Gabon will rue the one that got away as he missed a sitter for a hat-trick that would have won him the prize outright.

Still, Unai Emery and the Arsenal fans will just hope their main man can keep his predatory hot-streak going until May 28 when they meet Chelsea in the Europa League final.

It was five goals in less than 72 hours for Aubameyang after his sensational hat-trick in the 4-2 win in Valencia on Thursday night had booked the Gunners’ place in the final.

With his own personal ambitions at stake, he was one of only two survivors from the starting line-up in Spain along with captain for the day, Nacho Monreal

But in making so many changes, including a first league start of the entire season for youngster Joe Willock, Emery showed he obviously does not believe in sporting miracles, despite what we have witnessed in the last seven days.

The Spaniard decided that winning here, Tottenham losing at home to Everton and making up eight goals in goal difference to grab fourth place was simply not possible.

The difference between Arsenal in Europe and on the domestic front at the business end of the season has been stark. A run of four points from six games in the Premier League has thrown away a Champions League spot from a position of strength.

In contrast, the way they won all four legs against Napoli and Valencia in the quarter-final and semi-final to make it an all-English final was mightily impressive.

Aubameyang was on the goals hunt for goals from the off and was close twice in the first ten minutes. First, a combination of head and shoulder sent one effort against the bar before a fierce shot from a narrow angle brought a strong stop from Tom Heaton.

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However, at the other end, the soft centre that Emery has not managed to eradicate, and certainly not in the Premier League, was in evidence as Burnley found plenty of gaps in a flimsy rearguard.

Ashley Barnes forced an unconvincing save out of Bernd Leno before his strike partner, Chris Wood, was desperately close to putting the Clarets in front when he got clear of the centre halves, beat Leno but struck the inside of the post.

To further underline the feeling of Keystone cops defending from the visitors, Arsenal needed a sliding Shkodran Mustafi to block a goal-bound shot from Burnley full-back Matt Lowton after he had rounded Leno.

Having made life uncomfortable for their visitors, Burnley offered Aubameyang an opportunity he wasn’t going to spurn as when Jack Cork’s pass was out of reach of Ben Mee, the Arsenal man sprinted through to score.

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For his second, he ghosted to the back post to emphatically volley home Alex Iwobi’s cross and the Golden Boot chase was very much on.

Arsenal still contrived to make things hard for themselves as Barnes pulled one back with a neat header after a spell of pressure before things picked up a crazy end-to-end feel.

The chance Aubameyang dreamt of came from a delightful low ball from Henrik Mkhitaryan, but rather than slide it home from no more than five yards, he steered it the wrong side of the post.

His search remained right until the final whistle and Aubameyang was even a touch frustrated when substitute Eddie Nketiah squeezed a shot under Heaton with the last kick of the game when he was waiting in the middle.

Yet when the dust settles, the Gunners will swap any individual award for Aubameyang scoring a winner in Baku that seals their passage to the Champions League.