West Ham 1-0 Burnley: Michail Antonio Scores Winner As Hammers Maintain Solid Form | Football news

Michail Antonio reminded West Ham of his worth by scoring the winning goal in a 1-0 win over Burnley.

In his first start in eight Premier League games, the forward talisman scored his ninth goal in his last 11 Premier League starts when he took advantage of a lackluster defense from Burnley (9).

West Ham is now undefeated in its last seven games it has started, winning five of them, including this one over a toothless Burnley, who only began to pressure the Hammers with his direct approach at the end.

Dwight McNeil hit the crossbar with a cross, but that was the closest Sean Dyche’s men got in a result that keeps them 17th in the Premier League, four points above the drop.

Meanwhile, David Moyes’ men have only lost four of their last 16 Premier League matches and are just three points behind the top four in eighth place.

How Antonio Led the Charge of West Ham …

Antonio arrived for his first league start since October following a streak injury, as Moyes felt confident enough in his fitness to sell Sebastien Haller to Ajax.

He found the net in the ninth minute with West Ham’s first attack after a ball from Said Benrahma had sent Jarrod Bowen. He sent a ball back to Pablo Fornals, who delivered a cross into the box that really should have been dealt with by Ben Mee and James Tarkowski, but a mix-up between the two allowed Antonio to touch the goal on the back post.

The 30-year-old celebrated by hitting a socially distanced backstroke next to the corner flag after a challenge from teammate Declan Rice.

It was the key moment of an otherwise monotonous first half. Burnley briefly thought they had equalized when a Chris Wood cross was deflected into his own net by Aaron Cresswell, but the Burnley forward was stopped for offside.

Moments later, West Ham nearly doubled their lead, with Rice flicking Bowen’s corner to Angelo Ogbonna, who headed off a post.

Moyes will have asked for much more of the same after the break and West Ham started positively, sensing a second goal. Rice came in with a daring angled free kick that flew tight and the otherwise excellent Bowen took too long to play on Benrahma, who would have been an easy touch had they found him.

Rice then fed Bowen, who ran away from McNeil but buried his shot in the side net.

Burnley survived that pressure and began to force the Hammers to dig deeper as time went on.

Mee headed Robbie Brady’s ball and they got even closer as McNeil’s cross went over Lukasz Fabianski and bounced off the crossbar.

Many teams would have retired under Burnley’s siege but, led by Ogbonna, West Ham comfortably saw victory, holding a fourth clean sheet in a row.

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• West Ham have won eight of their 18 Premier League games so far this season. They didn’t score their eighth league win until their 32nd game last season.
• No team has failed to score in more different Premier League games than Burnley this season (10), while no team has scored in more different games so far than West Ham (15).
• West Ham have kept three clean sheets in a row in the Premier League for the first time since September 2019.

Man of the match: Jarrod Bowen

In a game that significantly lacks quality, Bowen was the bright light. While others around him gave away the ball and took the easy option, the winger always thought ahead with his runs with the ball. Only Fornals did more than his 15 sprints with his ability to force Burnley back four toward his own goal, a key part of West Ham being able to control most of the game. Antonio brought it closer with a typical display of action and of course scored the important winning goal. But there was still an element of rust in his game, which bodes well for the Hammers. There is much more to come from him.

What the managers said

West Ham boss David Moyes said: “Michy [Antonio] it was great for someone who just came back from injury. It has shown a great level of robustness in the last six months and we hope we can do it again. If you can get back in shape from those previous months, that would be a great thing. I didn’t enjoy us creating opportunities, but I didn’t take them, but it was a day when we needed our defense to stand up and be counted. Ogbonna and Dawson especially. “

Sean Dyche, Burnley boss: “We received a softer goal than usual for us, but I’m not going to criticize my centrals, I think they were excellent today.

“They didn’t really get a lot of other chances, until near the end. It’s just about finding the details in the last third.

“It’s rare in the Premier League to leave home and have as much possession as we do.

“There were a lot of good things, but we came out with nothing. West Ham defended very well today, so I show them the credit for seeing the game clean.

“There are a lot of things right in the team at the moment, but we have to find the margins. We are close, but we have to make sure we do it rather than wait for it to happen.”

“After eight games we had two points. So we have been effective. But we need to be more effective.”

Whats Next?

West Ham will return to action on Tuesday at the London Stadium with West Brom on the road. Liverpool is next for Burnley in a tough-looking match at Anfield.