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

Arsenal has 82 from 37 games with Manchester City on 77 from 36 and Mikel Arteta's side will be confirmed as champion if City fails 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 Monday.

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 Burnley is long since down, it was not about to roll over.

The visitor 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 and keep Man City at bay was present again but eventually the hosts exerted some pressure.

Eberechi Eze volleyed one effort at Burnley keeper Max Weiss and Arsenal were howling for a penalty when Saka went down under challenge from Lucas Pires.

Captain Martin Odegaard had a shot deflected wide and from the resulting corner Arsenal made the breakthrough in tried and trusted fashion. Saka flighted the ball in and Havertz rose to glance home a header from close range.

The tension was lifted but it descended again after the interval as Arsenal missed several chances to secure the points safely, while Burnley remained a threat.

Havertz was fortunate when a poor tackle on Burnley midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu that earned him a yellow card was viewed by VAR for a possible red, but the relieved German escaped more serious punishment.

Any notion of Arsenal piling up some goals to give themselves a goal difference advantage over City was forgotten as the minutes ticked down.

A huge roar heralded the final whistle before Arsenal's players took a lap of honour and they will now hope Bournemouth can spark an even bigger north London knees-up on Wednesday.