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2 hours ago
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Key events
Time for a glance at the table. Yes, I know it’s early doors, but what the table lacks in reliability, it makes up in light entertainment. West Ham are 10th and Burnley 11th.
Not sure how that works, as they’re surely either dead level, or Burnley are ahead on alphabetical order. Anyway, both are solid mid-table. Top of the pile are QPR, the only team so far to have won by two goals and scored three. Millwall are just behind them, also on +2 GD, followed by six clubs who won their first game by a single goal – Swansea, West Brom, Bolton, Charlton, Middlesbrough and Watford.
And at the bottom? Southampton. That will be music to the ears of many a true football supporter.
Zian Flemming, the man of the moment, is the Player of the Match. “I think we were quite good for the entire game to be fair,” he says. “Overall we deserved even more than a point. The lads and mysefl need to do better with the chances we had. To be fair, I’d rather miss a chance than not have the chance at all.”
“That’s what he did all of last season,” says his captain, Kyle Walker. “He always gives 100 per cent and he got his reward.”
Walker is asked how he found his first Championship game for 15 years. “It was enjoyable,” he says with a chuckle. “It’s a pleasure to play with these lads – they work hard, they give it their all.”
West Ham lost 20 points from winning positions last season. And they’ve squandered two more today.
It was our old friend, a game of two halves. West Ham dominated the first 50 minutes, but Burnley showed spirit and spark and they got their rewards in the end. Zian Flemming summed up Burnley’s performance, wasting chance after chance, but putting all that out of his mind as he scored with a cool penalty and an added-time equaliser that was scruffy but effective.
FULL TIME! Burnley 2-2 West Ham
And that’s that. A draw that will feel like a win for Burnley – and a blow for West Ham.
90+6 min Maybe it was a knock, as Diouf picked up a yellow card. Burnley come again with ten men.
90+5 min There’s a lull as Flemming is treated for something that looks like cramp. He’s earned a breather.
90+3 min West Ham find their way into the box, but Burnley see them off and get up the other end. Broja has the ball 12 yards out and he slips it out to the left, but the move peters out as the wide players aren’t on the same page.
GOAL!!! Burnley 2-2 West Ham (Flemming 90+2)
He’s done it again! A Burnley corner, a goalmouth melee … the ball breaks to Flemming near the spot, and he plants it inside the near post.
90 min Nuno sends on a defender (Joel Veltman) for a forward (the excellent Solomon), but it’s still Burnley on the attack. Amdouni shoots over the bar as the sign goes up to say we’ll have five more minutes.
89 min Burnley on the march again. Laurent, on the left, drills in a cross that could be a shot. It’s begging for a flick but doesn’t get one.
87 min Nuno takes action, pulling Scarles off and sending on El Hadji Malick Diouf, who is only the second sub for West Ham today.
85 min So Burnley have a lifeline. The Turf Moor crowd, who have been either loud or silent, turn up the volume. They love it now when Scarles takes too long over a throw and gets penalised under the new rule (throw to Burnley).
GOAL! Burnley 1-2 West Ham (Flemming 83)
Zian Flemming steps up and sends Hermansen the wrong way. He then bundles Hermansen over in the net, leading to a yellow card for the both of them.
Penalty to Burnley!
Marcus Edwards advances into the area and Ollie Scarles mars a good performance by lunging in. It’s a pen, no doubt about it.
80 min Burnley have gone a bit ragged now. Nicky Hayen gambles by sending on his fifth sb, Mike Tresor, for Jacob Bruun Larsen, who could easily have had an assist or two with his tireless crosses.
77 min Subs for Burnley – Lucas Pires on for Bashir Humphreys, Armando Broja for Aaron Ramsey. And they had a couple of subs earlier that I missed, sorry: Josh Laurent for Ugo Raghouber, Zeki Amdouni for Hannibal Mejbri.
76 min Hats off to Nuno, who had just rejigged his team for the second time this afternoon. He moved Ward-Prowse into the centre of midfield to stiffen West Ham’s spine. That led to the free kick, a chance for Kilman, a shot from Bowen (blocked by Kilman), and ultimately to the second goal.
75 min Burnley have been so bright going forward and so brittle at the back.
73 min Solomon cost West Ham about £5 million. Cheap at the price.
GOAL! Burnley 0-2 West Ham (Solomon 72)
Against the run of play! Kante does well to break down the right, just keeps the ball in, and squeezes in a cross, which Solomon thumps into the roof of the net.
70 min After going to sleep for 20 minutes, West Ham are back at it. They win a free kick 40 yards out which Ward-Prowse will take.
69 min The traffic is still one-way. Burnley are in the box again and Josh Laurent opts to cross from the inside-right channel, when he could have taken a shot.
67 min Castellanos is back on the field and itching for revenge on Walker. He takes it with an elbow into the back, and collects a well-earned booking.
66 min The replay shows that it was actually off the shoulder, like a ballgown.
64 min Burnley are still the better team. They bustle down the left and win a corner, which Bruun Larsen whips in. It’s – guess what – a header for Flemming, which is cleared off the line!
62 min Big chance for Burnley! Edwards jinks into space on the right and curls in a cultured left-foot cross. Flemming has yet another header and it’s his best one yet, going downwards, with intent, beating Hermansen … and hitting the post.
60 min As the hourglass flips over, the game comes to a halt. Taty Castellanos took a bang on the head as he went up for the ball with Kyle Walker. He’s back on his feet but walking off for a breather.
59 min Burnley have been the better team for the past five minutes. And they’ve had more shots overall (10-7), even theirs have included a few long ones.
57 min Do you remember Kyle Walker crossing the ball, baclk in the day? He hasn’t forgotten how to do it. He curls the ball in now, albeit from centre-back, and presents Flemming with another header, which goes over the bar.
55 min Burnley get upfield but Mejbri’s shot is well wide. This prompts a volley of alliteration from one of the commentators: “It’s hit-and-hope from Hannibal.”
54 min West Ham stroke the ball around smoothly before Kilman’s long ball is too long for Solomon.
52 min Burnley show some purpose. First Edwards and Sonne combine down the right, only to see Orford clear; then Bruun Larsen sends in a delicious cross from the left, which Flemming heads crisply – but straight at Hermansen.
50 min Nothing doing for a couple of minutes, which will suit West Ham fine.
47 min Ward-Prowse hits his first dead ball now, curling in a corner from the left, which Max Weiss clears with a confident punch.
46 min Scrap that – Bowen has moved inside to play as a second striker, so it’s as you were. With Ward-Prowse on the field, West Ham’s set pieces should be even more dangerous.
The players are out there and among them is an old friend of the home crowd. James Ward-Prowse, now back with West Ham, is on for Pablo. That’s a midfielder for a striker, so it looks as if Nuno is switching to a 4-2-3-1.
HALF-TIME! Burnley 0-1 West Ham (Kilman 10)
The whistle goes and the scoreline doesn’t lie. It’s been like watching a Championship play host to a Premier League club. Burnley have been bright on the break, but wayward with their shots. West Ham have had 63 per cent of the possession and almost all of the class.
45+1 min We’re into the one and only added minute. Bowen’s corner leads to another, but this time there’s no cheap goal on offer.
45 min Bowen is on manoeuvres again, as Castellanos drops deep to send a lovely through ball round the corner down the right. Humphreys tracks him and shovels the ball out for a corner.
42 min Right on cue, Solomon jinks through the box and finds enough space to take a shot, but it balloons into the crowd.
42 min As a cross comes in from Manor Solomon on the left, Bowen can’t quite get a touch. Everybody’s been saying that Bowen is going to be the best player in the Championship, but Solomon is not to be underestimated. When he was at Leeds a couple of years ago, he did a lot to get them promoted with 22 goal involvements.
