Burnley 1 v 0 Watford (Premier League)
Sean Dyche welcomes his former club Watford to Turf Moor this afternoon as the Clarets look to get back to winning way’s following their defeat Leicester City last week. Burnley had been forced into two changes with Scott Arfield and Kevin Long replacing Ben Mee and Robbie Brady in the starting line-up due to injury.
The visitors started the stronger of the two sides as a Tom Cleverley’s corner was flicked on at the front post after by Roberto Pereyra, the ball went through a crowd of players before arriving at Deeney, Richarlison and Maariappa however all three players got in each others way and saw the call go wide of Nick Pope’s post.
Burnley came to life after ten minutes, when an excellent ball from Jeff Hendrick found Chris Wood on the right-hand side of the Watford area, his right-footed shot was saved by Gomes down at his left-hand post. On eighteen minutes, Johann Berg Gudmundsson hit a left-footed shot from outside the box saved by Gomes in the bottom right corner.
The Clarets then had two efforts in two minutes, the first fell to Gudmudsson who hit a left-footed free-kick from outside the box which was well saved by Gomes in the Watford goal down to his right. The second was a left-footed shot from outside the box by Chris Wood, following an assist by Ward which was saved by Gomes in the centre of the goal.
On twenty-three minutes, following an excellent cross by Roberto Pereyra the ball arrived at Christian Kabasele but his left-footed shot from the centre of the box went wide of Nick Pope’s left-hand post.
The major turning point arrived on thirty-nine minutes, as Marvin Zeegelaar was shown a straight red card for a two-footed challenge on Steven Defour by referee Lee Probert, the Watford manager Marco Silva was not impressed with the decision.
Just before the interval, José Holebas hit a left-footed shot from a difficult angle on the left which went very close and just wide of Nick Pope’s left-hand post.
The Clarets took the lead in the final minute, when Johann Gudmundsson found Scott Arfield who hit a left-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner, to give the home side a 1-0 half-time lead.
The visitors started the second half much the same as they did in the first half, as they dominated the first ten minutes. On fifty-two minutes, Doucouré right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left-hand side of Nick Pope’s goal.
Watford then went close twice in just two minutes, the first effort fell to Daryl Janmaat who hit a right-footed shot from outside the Clarets box which went wide of Nick Pope’s goal. Then seconds later, Tom Cleverley struck a left-footed shot from outside the box which went high and wide.
On seventy minutes, former Claret Andre Gray came off the bench for Watford as the visitors went looking for equaliser. However he had very little impact in the game as his old team mates marked him out of the game.
Referee Probert had another big decision to make on seventy-one minutes, as Ashley Barnes slotted the ball passed Gomes in the Watford goal only to see the goal be dis-allowed by the officials for off-side, however a replay of the incident clearly shows that Barnes was on side and the goal should have stood.
The visitors final effort came on eighty minutes, when a Tom Cleverley corner was met by Daryl Janmaat but his header from six yards went just over Nick Pope’s crossbar. Phil Bardsley then picked up a yellow card in the final minute, after he clattered Richarlison on the left-wing to break up a move and leave the full-time score 1-0 to the Clarets.
Speaking after the match Burnley manager Sean Dyche said, “I’m really pleased with the result, Watford had a very strong start to the season and we knew they’re a strong side. We started slowly but overall delivered a strong performance.
Marvin Zeegelaar was definitely a red card, I thought so at the time and I’ve seen it back afterwards and it’s a poor challenge. But it’s strange when the opposition go a man down because you’re then in a fight where everyone expects you to win, overall it’s another big three points for us.
The marvel of our squad is that we have players such as Kevin Long and Scott Arfield who can come into the team out of the blue and deliver an excellent performance.”
Match Details
Burnley – Pope, Bardsley, Tarkowski, Long, Ward, Cork, Defour, Arfield, Hendrick, Gudmundsson, Wood (Subs) Lindegaard, Taylor, Ulvestad, Westwood, Vokes, Barnes, Wells
Watford – Gomes, Janmaat, Mariappa, Kabasele, Zeegelaar, Cleverley, Doucoure; Carrillo, Pereyra, Richarlison; Deeney (Subs) Karnezis, Prodl, Holebas, Capoue, Watson, Success, Gray.
Goals – (Burnley) Arfield (45)
Attendance – 19,479
Chadwick Media 