Heading into this match Burnley were six points from safety, their slide into the Championship was matched in velocity by West Ham’s trundling towards their end-of-season holiday.
Regrettable relegation for Burnley, rest and relaxation for West Ham. But the season is not over yet, and three points for Sean Dyche’s team would give them at least a whiff of hope. As for the Hammers, well, a goal or two in this game would prove a nice surprise, something Sam Allardyce’s team have registered only seven of in their last 12 matches. A cheerier figure was the number 2 – this was the second straight match that young Reece Burke has started at centre-back for the East London club. An academy product, the defender performed well last weekend against the strapping Charlie Austin and Bobby Zamora. Burnley’s Danny Ings, for whom the goals have dried up completely, and Ashley Barnes should prove another stern test, if not quite as rugged.
The opening sequence
To begin things, Enner Valencia missed a golden chance, stabbing strangely at a perfectly whipped ball from Aaron Cresswell. Choosing to try and make contact with the bottom of his boot, he bungled it completely, and the ball fizzed through that corridor of uncertainty and out the other side. A few minutes later, Burke showed his green horns by losing Ings during a Burnley attack down the left. Matty Taylor’s excellent cross was met by a free and easy Ings, but the striker couldn’t keep his header down, wastefully.
Though West Ham controlled the very initial exchanges
, they lost their fluency through midfield after the 10 minute mark. Long James Collins punts became more of a feature, and the neat interplay between Mark Noble and Cheikhou Kouyate evaporated. Burnley began to take possession and keep it, and it was from a rare West Ham foray into the Burnley box that the opening goal came, via a stonewall penalty. Mike Duff fouled Kouyate, after wholly buying the Senegalese’s dummy, and Noble dispatched the spot kick, only West Ham’s second all season.
For all of Kouyate’s defensive steel, he does possess a fine set of attacking tools as well. Referee John Moss added grievous seasoning to the penalty by sending Duff off for, it was later stated, the denial of a goalscoring opportunity. Three Burnley players were in a position to cover once Duff had been beaten and, had he not fouled Kouyate, it would be hard to argue that a goal, or even a shot, would have been a foregone conclusion.
After the goal
Once the match had settled again after the palpitation of the penalty, West Ham began to stroll, passing around the back, slowly and patiently working their way up the pitch. Tom Heaton made a wholly miraculous save from what looked a sure Valencia goal, and then saved a fabulous Morgan Amalfitano shot a few minutes later. Not to be outdone, Adrian displayed his own quality, saving a goal-bound Ashley Barnes header from a Burnley corner. It would be a mighty task, barring a bad error, for Burnley to get back into this match now that they were numerically outnumbered.
They had to be bold, even under these highly disadvantageous circumstances. A spirited loss, even a draw, would not help them survive the desperate final stages of the season. West Ham, now with their noses in front, could afford to saunter, stroke the ball around, and commit forward only occasionally. The Hammers had 61% of the possession at the half, and Cresswell’s outrageously ambitious strike just before the break, hit from all of 40 yards out, summed up the stark difference in the pressure sitting on these two teams.
The second-half
Burnley brought on Michael Keane to replace George Boyd at the half, a roll of the dice from Dyche. Keane allowed Matt Taylor to move back into midfield, and for the two strikers, Ings and Barnes to remain as an attacking tandem, in a 4-3-2. The sacrifice of personnel in midfield would have to coped with. It did mean, however, that the progression through the centre was a breeze for West Ham, and they began the second half threateningly probing the Burnley defence.
It became clear that Burnley’s mode of attack was to hit long balls over the top to Ings, and the method proved promising, with Ings twice racing in behind James Collins and co. early on in the second-half.
Then, two rapid-fire chances, both golden. Adrian saves a close range Burnley shot, turning it against the post with his feet. Then Kevin Nolan and Valencia spur two gilt-edged shooting opportunities after fine work from Amalfitano and Cresswell down the left. Stewart Downing, a few moments later, is booked for diving, rightly, replays indicate. A breathless flurry of activity. Downing’s season has tailed off horribly, after being one of the leagues most creative dynamos in the first half of the season.
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The final stages
West Ham remained on top, with Burnley only a sporadic threat on the break. Kevin Nolan provided Amalfitano a glorious shooting opportunity, which he missed, before he came off and Nene replaced him. The former PSG man was introduced with the mandate of adding a pinch of vitality to startle the home side into snatching that second goal. The crowd was audibly frustrated, and growing more so with every botched chance. Mark Noble was superbly conducting the midfield, but Burnley were defending stoutly, with countless blocks and last-second challenges. The fans, and no doubt Allardyce, did not need reminding of West Ham’s habit of conceding late this season.
The match crept onwards, with the 1-0 scoreline growing stale. Block after block, Burnley refused to yield, but time ran out eventually. It was that same, tired story for the sorry visitors; Burnley’s endeavour was again unrewarded, and the Championship beckons forebodingly. 1-0 it ended, and West Ham’s early lead endured. Burnley’s time in the Premier League, it appears, will not.
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