Burnley 1-0 Stoke City
Substitute Ashley Barnes scored an 87th minute winner to narrowly beat Stoke City 1-0 and send Burnley up to fourth place in the Premier League table, as pressure continues to build on Potters boss Mark Hughes.
Barnes was introduced into a tense game with limited chances on 70 minutes, but came up with the goods as a moment of magic linking up with winger Scott Arfield was enough to secure The Clarets’ ninth league victory of the season.
Sean Dyche saw no need for changes to his Burnley side that hosted, and beat, Watford at the weekend with Ben Mee, who was expected to return to the starting line-up after a gashed knee kept him out of Saturday’s 1-0 win, missing out on a place in the squad altogether.
Stoke City made three changes of personnel after the 5-1 mauling at Tottenham Hotspur last time out, as well as switching from 3-5-1-1 to 4-4-2, with Geoff Cameron, Ramadan Sobhi and Peter Crouch replacing Kevin Wimmer, Thomas Edwards and Maxim Choupo-Moting.
Burnley made a good start to the game as sleet poured onto the field of play, but it didn’t take long for the visitors to take control of proceedings and were showing signs of danger primarily down the wings in the early stages.
Tom Pope was called into action just five minutes in after Ramadan Sobhi bent a first time cross towards the on-rushing Peter Crouch at the back post and Matt Tarkowski made a mess of the clearance, forcing the home goalkeeper into an unexpected low save.
Stoke continued to apply pressure and Pope made another stop shortly afterwards, as Kurt Zouma’s goal-bound volley from a whipped Xherdan Shaqiri ball was aimed straight into the arms of the opposing ‘keeper.
There were tame penalty shouts from the home crowd on 21 minutes after Darren Fletcher caused Jack Cork to stumble in the Stoke box by stepping on the midfielder’s heel, referee Michael Jones was quick to wave away claims though.
Burnley started to grow in attacking confidence which caused Jack Butland to have a heart-in-mouth moment a few minutes later after dropping Joel Ward’s delivery, and was lucky that Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson had already turned his back on the chance.
Mame Biram Diouf came closest to opening the scoring at the half-hour mark after Shaqiri picked out his run down the right-hand side of the box, before the striker’s fierce effort skimmed the top of the crossbar under pressure from centre-half Tarkowski.
The first bit of real heavy action you’d expect from a Burnley vs Stoke City match was given to us by Geoff Cameron on minute. 33, who crunched into Jeff Hendrick out of nowhere but instantly apologised and subsequently avoided a booking.
Burnley had to make an early change five minutes before the half-time whistle after Joel Ward left a scramble near the Stoke goal on the floor in pain, prompting the Premier League debut of summer signing Charlie Taylor at left-back.
That substitution was the last notable piece of action in the first half, a fairly equal opening 45 minutes with minimal chances between both teams and Stoke City looking the more likely to find a breakthrough.
There were calls for a penalty 10 minutes into the second period, this time from the away section, as the ball cannoned off the arm of Charlie Taylor, however, Michael Jones once again waved away the claims and play continued.
Stoke gave away free-kicks galore after the break, while Scott Arfield slipping and unintentionally clattering into Geoff Cameron on the left flank brought a bit of comedy to what continued to be a rather dull affair in Lancashire with 62 minutes on the clock.
Like Burnley, The Potters were forced into a defensive substitution a few minutes later after Chelsea loanee Kurt Zouma worryingly went to ground clutching his hamstring and had to slowly leave the field for Kevin Wimmer, fuelling Clarets fans’ frustrations.
Chris Wood went for a spectacular overhead kick with 20 minutes left and, of course, completely missed the ball, which did however fall at the feet of Guðmundsson, who could only fizz his effort past the post.
Sean Dyche introduced Ashley Barnes immediately afterwards for secondary striker Jeff Hendrick, who failed to make much of an impact all night, which gave the home side a bit more attacking prowess inside the box – yet end product continued to evade them.
Sam Vokes replaced Chris Wood up top to make his 200th league appearance for Burnley on 81 minutes, while Mark Hughes switched Shaqiri for Maxim Choupo-Moting, leading to boos from the away end, and not for the first time in the game.
Peter Crouch was inches away from taking rising pressure off Mark Hughes by giving Stoke a winner and becoming the club’s leading Premier League goalscorer in the 87th minute, setting himself up after Diouf’s knockdown and firing a bicycle kick just over the crossbar.
But it was Burnley who stole the spoils seconds afterwards courtesy of brilliant link-up between Scott Arfield and Ashley Barnes. Jack Cork lumped forward a ball, picking out the Barnes on the edge of the box before the substitution played a delightful one-two with Arfield and smashed the ball home to send Turf Moor into utter frenzy.
The full-time whistle blew as rain poured down onto the celebrating home players and fans – the weather certainly a contrast to the emotions of everyone connected to Burnley, as they surpass Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool to enter the top four with that massive win.
Stoke City’s 16-point tally after 17 Premier League matches is their worst ever start to a top-flight season and they could find themselves in the relegation zone once the mid-week fixtures are over.
