GET OFF MY TURF!
Burnley 1 West Ham 2
Jarrod Bowen has managed to get injured training for the England game and misses both fixtures on the international weekend. To add insult to history, he then fails to be fit to continue plowing his away goal scoring furrow for the Hammers. Bollards.
Will Moyes play Cornet against his old side? No, of course he won’t. They’re paying Danny Ings too much to have him warming the bench when one of the main strikers is out. Piece of crap. Allegedly.
Vincent Company has yet to record a single point at home with his Burnley side this season, all their four points being secured on the road. Yes, I would say at first glance that this sounds like another of those games that West Ham have the uncanny knack of losing.
Tomas Souček has scored 8 goals in his last 17 matches, pocketing another two for Czechia in the week off, so starts, and with less than two minutes on the clock is found unmarked in the box by Lucas Paquetá, but hurries a header rather than take his time, so the chance goes begging.
Whether Ings can upset his poor form book remains to be seen throughout a frustrating first half where neither side looks like breaking the deadlock, though Coufal may have been a little fortunate in not conceding a penalty for the challenge in the area against Koleosho, which although it’s put under the VAR microscope for a minute or two, is dismissed as inconsequential.
The penalty issue arises again early in the second half when Kudus, chasing back, steps on the toe of Koleosho, and this time the referee does give it. Bastard. Koleosho has collapsed to the ground as if he has been shot by a West Ham bench firing squad conducted by impresario ‘Sir’ Kevin Nolan. Jay Rodriguez hits the penalty straight down the middle but Areola has committed to his left (Fabianski he ain’t) so isn’t able to get a leg on it. It’s the first time all season Burnley have taken the lead at home which is slightly worrying, to say the least.
Paquetá gets a chance outside the area a few minutes later, but his effort is just a tad high. God but he whacked it. Burnley push harder but can’t get the second goal to give themselves the necessary breathing space.
Little by little West Ham crustaceian their way back into the game, with substitutes Benrahma and Mubama having a gentle but possibly significant effect on the chance creation factor. Zouma gets on the end of a Paquetá cross, but can’t keep it down. Benrahma then hits a curling effort just wide of James Trafford’s left hand post. The equaliser is closing in, you feel.
Then, with just four minutes left, Kudus finds some space on the right after passing Zaroury, Taylor and Beyer in one effortless wriggle, and is suddenly in space, hitting in a vicious low cross that is turned past his own keeper by Dara O’Shea, under pressure from Mubama. Divinely.
And that’s not all. With seven minutes injury time in the bank, Hammers press high, determinedly, and Kudus, out on the right again, takes a pass from Ward-Prowse and at the corner of the area hits in a deliciously low left-footed curling cross that Souček masterfully volleys home at the far post.
With four minutes to go Burnley had the three points in the bag, but in the end go home with nothing…
I am reminded of a late 2-1 win on the road at Birmingham City in April, in the 1992-93 promotion season, when an 87th minute goal by Kenny Brown was followed by an 89th minute winner from Ian Bishop after Birmingham had held their 12th minute lead for well over an hour. Moyes, he does your head in sometimes, but the nature of this victory is unquestionably diamond.
1 Alphonse Areola, 5 Vladimir Coufal, 33 Emerson, 4 Kurt Zouma (captain), 19 Edson Álvarez, 27 Nayef Aguerd, 7 James Ward-Prowse, 11 Lucas Paquetá, 28 Tomas Souček, 14 Mohammed Kudus, 18 Danny Ings
Substitutes: 45 Divin Mubama, 22 Saïd Benrahma
Goalscorers: Dara O’Shea (own goal), Tomas Souček
