ARSENE Wenger had a proud record to protect at Turf Moor.

Had it not been for a classic case of 'what if?', the Arsenal manager may have been forced to surrender it.

The Frenchman had never lost an FA Cup clash to a team from a lower division.

Sadly, Eduardo and Nicklas Bendtner made sure that still remains the case.

But what if Kyle Lafferty's sixth minute header had crept under instead of crashing off the crossbar?

What if Chris McCann had been able to take one of several chances?

What if Wade Elliott had gone down under Armand Traore's clumsy trip inside the area?

What if referee Alan Wiley hadn't acted in haste and given Lafferty the benefit of the doubt, allowing him to stay on the pitch instead of going for a bath 31 minutes too early?

Now, of course, it is all conjecture. But Burnley can still be proud of how they gave Arsenal a real run for their money, even after going down to 10 men.

They passed and moved with confidence, were never fearful in going forward and in the main they defended manfully against a tremendously talented blend of youth and experience.

So much so, that the two teams may have been forced into a re-match at the Emirates had Arsenal not punished the only lapses in concentration at the back.

Gabor Kiraly had little in the way of saves to make otherwise.

And although the same could be said of his counterpart, Jens Lehmann, the goalkeeper could never risk being off his guard as Wade Elliott, Lafferty and Robbie Blake possessed a threat with their creativity in and around the area, while Chris McCann and James O'Connor were strong and combative in midfield and eager for any sight of goal.

Wenger, like many of his Premier League peers when faced with lower league sides in cup competitions, had chosen to rotate his squad.

But as the likes of Blackburn Rovers and Everton painfully found out at the weekend, that policy can so easily bite you on the backside.

Wenger himself was almost left smarting as early as the sixth minute when Andy Gray's hooked cross from James O'Connor's deft throughball found the head of Lafferty.

The youngster never took his eyes off it, before thumping a header goalwards.

Lehmann wouldn't have had a prayer had it dropped an inch or two lower, but he was counting his blessings after seeing the ball crash back off the crossbar and deny Lafferty the break in the box he needed to punish the rebound.

Abou Diaby missed an opportunity on the break as he ghosted through the middle before having his run halted on the edge of the box with a firm, but fair, challenge.

It was, perhaps, a sign of things to come though, as just two minutes later Kolo Toure chipped a defence-splitting ball for Eduardo to run onto.

With an 11-year age gap, it was predicatable that the Brazilian-born Croatian international would beat Stanislav Varga for pace on his Burnley debut.

Steven Caldwell tracked back to do as much as he could to put Eduardo off his stride without fouling the 24-year-old striker, but in the end he had the simplest of tasks in slotting the ball beyond Kiraly.

It was the early blow Burnley were desperately trying to avoid, but they recovered well and regained the confidence to pepper the goalmouth, but McCann, with his head, and Gray, with his right foot, lacked the power to get the better of Lehmann, while Blake was unfortunate to blaze over when Kolo Toure failed to deal with Graham Alexander's long ball into the box.

Burnley had a period of pressure to ride out and O'Connor was well placed to block Gilberto's deflected header on the line, from an inswinging Eduardo corner.

Emmanuel Eboue threatened soon after on a break down the right, but flashed his shot well over.