West Ham United 1-1 Burnley
Premier League, London Stadium, Sunday 17 April 2022
West Ham United came from behind to draw 1-1 with Burnley at London Stadium in the Premier League.
The Hammers dominated in terms of possession and chances created, only for a combination of wasteful finishing and the excellence of Clarets goalkeeper Nick Pope to deny them a victory the hosts arguably warranted on the balance of play.
As it was, West Ham conceded to Burnley’s only shot on target – a first-half header from Wout Weghorst – and had a missed penalty from Maxwel Cornet to thank for giving them a chance to mount a second half comeback.
David Moyes’ side did so, equalising through a bundled effort from Tomáš Souček with 16 minutes remaining, but they were unable to find a way past Pope again in the closing stages and were forced to settle for a frustrating point.
Following the pre-match presentation of 2006/07 Hammer of the Year Carlos Tevez to loud acclaim, the first half was a subdued affair as far as West Ham were concerned, despite Moyes’ side having nearly 60 per cent possession and creating nearly twice as many goal attempts as their opponents.
After a nondescript opening ten minutes, West Ham gradually took control and could have gone ahead on more than one occasion.
First, a smart near-post corner-kick routine involving Declan Rice led to Jarrod Bowen being denied twice in the space of seconds, first by Ashley Westwood’s block and then by Pope’s fingertip save. Burnley were seemingly rocked and it took another vital block, this time from James Tarkowski, to keep out Cresswell’s rasping volley, before the left-back saw a similar effort disallowed for a foul by Craig Dawson on Pope from another West Ham corner.
Midway through the first half, the game took an unhappy turn when a collision with Nikola Vlašić saw Westwood suffer a suspected serious lower-leg injury. The game was immediately halted, with Vlašić visibly upset and needing to be consoled by players from both teams.
After receiving treatment on the pitch for around seven minutes, Westwood was lifted onto a stretcher and driven off to applause from both sets of supporters, to be replaced by Josh Brownhill.
Following a second stoppage moments later when a group of supporters made the officials aware of an unspecified emergency in the lower tier of the Bobby Moore Stand, Burnley took just 60 seconds to get themselves in front. Jay Rodriguez headed Cornet’s corner against the crossbar and Netherlands centre-forward Weghorst outjumped Souček to nod in.
Unsurprisingly, the goal gave Burnley fresh impetus and, after Johnson and Antonio had shot well wide for the hosts, the Clarets wasted a big opportunity to go 2-0 up as the game ticked into nine minutes of added time at the end of the first half.
Cornet ran clean through on the counter onto Brownhill’s pass and was fouled by Łukasz Fabiański, only for Burnley’s leading scorer to pick himself up and fire his penalty wide of the right-hand post.
Into the second half and West Ham again held the upper hand in general play without initially finding a way through the Clarets’ organised back line.
Souček went close, nudging Manuel Lanzini’s cross narrowly wide under pressure from Cornet, then Antonio sent one header looping wide and a second into the arms of Pope as the home side sought to increase the pressure on a Burnley side with just four Premier League wins to their name all season.
With their opponents content to sit deep and soak up pressure, West Ham kept on creating and missing half-chances, Rice heading Cresswell’s free-kick past the post, before finally being rewarded from a set piece for the 13th time this Premier League season.
Cornet was again involved, bringing down Antonio wide on the left. Lanzini delivered the free-kick and Souček shouldered the ball past Pope from six yards.
Having got back on level terms, West Ham went in search of a late winner but, no matter how hard they pressed, it just would not come.
Johnson and substitute Saïd Benrahma fired off-target, then Pope made two truly world-class stops, first diving right to keep out Diop’s powerful header, then keeping his nerve to block Antonio’s low shot with his body.
With that, a frustrating afternoon in east London came to an end.
West Ham United: Fabiański, Johnson, Dawson, Diop, Cresswell, Rice ©, Souček, Vlašić (Benrahma 65), Lanzini (Fornals 79), Bowen, Antonio
Subs not used: Areola (GK), Coufal, Fredericks, Masuaku, Noble, Král, Yarmolenko
Goal: Souček 74
Booked: Fabiański, Rice
Burnley: Pope, Lowton (Roberts 62), Tarkowski ©, Collins, Taylor, McNeil (Vydra 79), Cork, Westwood (Brownhill 30), Cornet, Weghorst, Rodriguez
Subs not used: Hennessey (GK), Barnes, Stephens, Lennon, Bardsley, Long
Goal: Weghorst (33)
Booked: Cork, Weghorst
Referee: Paul Tierney
Attendance: 59,958
