NORWICH finally got their first Premier League point at the seventh attempt, after surviving a series of marginal penalty decisions.
But it must be short odds on these teams meeting again in the Championship next year, on this grim evidence.
Burnley have now gone seven Premier League matches without a win for the second season in a row – a sequence they put a stop to last year with a 1-0 victory at home to Crystal Palace.
What are the odds of them stopping the rot on the same mark this time? Slim to nil, and slim probably just left town!
Their next outing is away to Manchester City, who have racked up 5-0 victories on the last FOUR occasions they have hosted the Clarets.
This lifeless affair was Sean Dyche’s 400th match as Burnley’s boss. He cannot be looking forward to No 401 too much.
His mood cannot have been helped by the way referee Kevin Friend kept waving away loud appeals for penalties.
The Leicester official will not find many of his namesakes in this part of Lancashire.
At least opposite number Daniel Farke could celebrate the fact his side avoided the indignity of becoming just the fifth team to start a top-flight campaign with seven straight defeats – although they would have been in good company.
Manchester United and Liverpool both feature on that list. But that is no incentive to join them!
Norwich did not start like a team low on confidence after their shocking start.
They were first to threaten, as Teemu Pukki picked out Max Aarons with a crossfield ball, and the wing back’s fizzer was only inches wide of the far post.
But there were precious few attempts on goal from either side after that.
And the biggest talking points in the first half were the incidents that saw Matej Vydra emerge as a three-time loser, before being led off ten minutes before the break, looking dazed and bewildered.
There were loud screams for a penalty from the Clarets as Vydra got the first run on Tim Krul from Ashley Westwood’s quickly-taken free-kick.
Burnley’s Czech striker got to the ball first but was laid out as Krul threw both fists at it, with the ball bouncing away off his arm for a Burnley corner.
Vydra looked as if he did not know whether he was in Prague or Portsmouth.
But he remained full of running, and went down in a heap twice more, with Canaries captain Grant Hanley all over him on both occasions.
The home team’s desperate pleas for a penalty were waved away by Kevin Friend every time, much to the disgust of the Burnley players and their fans.
Their frustration was partly to blame as the Clarets picked up four first half bookings, with James Tarkowski, Mark Wood, Matt Lowton, and Josh Brownhill all having their names taken – along with Norwich midfielder Mathias Normann
When Vydra finally accepted he should give into the concussion protocols – to be replaced by Jay Rodriguez – there was a period of calm, interrupted only by a sumptuous sixty-yard diagonal pass from Normann to the overlapping Aarons.
Burnley finished the half on top, winning a succession of corners.
But they had to wait until after the break for their first meaningful effort on goal.
Dwight McNeil finally tested Krul – making his 200th Premier League appearance – with a rasping shot.
Pope was forced to make a much better stop to keep Normann’s free-kick out, after Ozan Kabak beat four men on a dazzling surge, before being chopped down on the edge of the Burnley box by Rodriguez – who became the fifth home player to be cautioned.
Normann was looking like the player most likely to break the deadlock, and he almost managed it with a clever lob that grazed the crossbar.
McNeil must still be wondering how he failed to find the target after being picked out by another Burnley sub, Johann Gudmundsson.
And his team must have been prepared for another knockback when they begged for a penalty yet again when Charlie Taylor went down after bumping into Aarons.
Gudmundsson headed over the bar from Burnley’s best move two minutes from time. That was as good as it got for the home side.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
