Burnley vs West Ham: Match Report on Premier League clash
By Amanda Paula
West Ham travelled to Burnley to the Turf Moor for their Premier League clash. However, in opposition to many predictions, the match finished with much frustration and unhappiness.
West Ham returned after the international break with hope of continuing some solid form. Many would argue that a 1-1 draw from a winning position at Burnley isn’t that.
The draw over Burnley keeps the Irons with only eight points in 14th place in Premier League. At the same time, Burnley were in 7th with 13 points, the same as Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea on the top-flight.
On the day where the Hammers had everything in place to win the match they threw away another result. A draw isn’t a bad result, especially after Andy Carroll received a red card. However the final scoreboard sounded like a loss for many fans, especially when West Ham had all the cards on the table to get a win.
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First Half
After an international break, many people were asking how should be the XI start and what formation Slaven Billic would select. The Croat decided to continue the 4-4-2 shape with Lanzini, Antonio, Arnautovic and Kouyate in the midfield with Carroll and Hernandez up front. It was not a huge surprise, but it at least showed a bit of adventure from the Hammers boss.
Nevertheless, in the first 18 minutes, West Ham were playing well, certainly better than Burnley. Hitting their passes and showing a lot of pace and controlling the game, especially with the trio Arnautovic, Lanzini and Antonio. Lanzini’s return made West Ham much better, even playing away from London Stadium.
The opening goal came in the 18th minute, when the England national goalkeeper Joe Hart made a long assist to Antonio; the Englishman slid it into a net after Pope and Mee could not stop the bouncing ball.
Unfortunately, the next 10 minutes would change the game. In the less than 2 minutes, between the 26 and 28, Andy Carroll put the Hammers in a hard situation. One yellow card was swiftly followed by another for a similar challenge; hence, the referee gave him a red card.
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After it, the Hammers had to hold the match, avoiding the Burnley’s attack until the halftime.
Second Half
As with the first period where Burnley were becoming more threatening, the second period started the same way. Playing at home, Sean Dyche’s men felt more confident to apply pressure and try to reverse the scoreboard.
Instead of the first half when the North-Westerners seemed lost in the game, this time they really knew what they were doing. The host side were being tactically clever and threatening Hart’s goal regularly. Thus, this was making the Hammers more nervous than they were already.
Some felt it was a question of time, and unfortunately Burnley scored in the last few minutes. When the New Zealand international Chris Wood leapt to equalise. This late equaliser makes the point earned by the Hammers feel a bit like a loss.
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However, the Hammers need to recover and focus on the next page of their story. Especially when they take Brighton as their next opponent at the London Stadium, on Friday, October 20. It will be another tough game, but West Ham do have good enough to get the victory.