BURNLEY missed out on the chance to move out of the relegation zone after falling to defeat to an in-form Arsenal side.

A game that started brightly petered out quickly once the Gunners took an early lead, and while Burnley sought a way back in, they were never at their best.

With Leicester winning earlier in the day the battle to avoid the drop in the Premier League is now tighter than ever, with Sunderland and Hull both losing and failing to haul themselves further away, unlike Aston Villa who were winners at Tottenham.

Burnley knew those results when they took to the field at Turf Moor, but they were behind inside 11 minutes when Ben Mee needlessly gave the ball away inside his own half.

The left back played a ball into the centre circle which was nowhere near a Burnley shirt, allowing Francis Coquelin to claim possession and launch a counter attack.

Mesut Ozil had a shot from the angle saved by Heaton’s legs, before Sanchez had an effort blocked, but it was third time lucky as Aaron Ramsey fired into the roof of the net from six-yards out.

Burnley struggled to create anything going forward in the first half. Sam Vokes breezed past Per Mertersacker but David Ospina smothered his effort at close range.

The Columbian was then at full stretch to beat Kieran Trippier’s 25-yard free kick away.

Having taken the lead the Gunners saw plenty of the ball but didn’t really test Heaton, with Santi Cazorla curling a free kick just wide of the post.

The second half followed a similar pattern with chances few and far between.

Ashley Barnes hooked a volley from Trippier’s corner straight at Ospina, while Heaton saved Sanchez’s low 25-yard drive.

But the Clarets should have been level on 69 minutes. Mee did brilliantly to ghost past Bellerin and into the area but from his chipped cross George Boyd fluffed his line, failing to make contact with his attempted finish from seven yards out.

That gave Burnley a surge of confidence, and Danny Ings tried an overhead kick in the area from Scott Arfield’s flicked pass, but it was too close to Ospina who held on to the ball, and that was the Clarets’ final chance.