Burnley Face Uphill Task After Home Loss
Burnley face a near impossible task to stay in the Premier League after the Vertu Motors-backed side slid to a damaging defeat against Newcastle.
An improved run of results in recent weeks had given the Clarets hope of avoiding the drop, with the visit of Newcastle and former boss Eddie Howe taking on huge importance – particularly with relegation rivals Nottingham Forest taking on already relegated Sheffield United.
Burnley had the best chance in the early stages when a long kick from Arijanet Muric was taken down by Jacob Bruun Larsen in the box only for Martin Dubravka to rush out and smother his effort.
The home side then felt they should have had a penalty when Lorenz Assignon went down in the box – a decision that left Burnley boss Vincent Kompany incensed on the touchline.
The early promise ultimately cane to nothing when Newcastle hit the front, with Callum Wilson tapping the ball home after Muric had parried a close-range effort from Alexander Isak.
Within 15 minutes, Newcastle had doubled their lead, with Wilson holding off his man on the right hand side of the box before passing the ball to Jacob Murphy to cross to Sean Longstaff – who placed his shot into the corner.
It got worse before the break, with Bruno Guimaraes ensuring that the early promise was well and truly forgotten by sliding home the third after Assignon was robbed of the ball in his own half and Antony Gordon drove into the box and played in the Brazilian to join the scorers.
Although Isak missed a penalty thanks to a solid stop from Muric, the Swedish forward made it four shortly afterwards with a simple finish at the back post, with Dara O’Shea’s header being too little, too late.
With Forest beating Sheffield United, Burnley are now five points behind their rivals with two games to go – one of which is against Forest on the final day.
It means Burnley have to win both of their final games, hope Forest fail to pick up a point and also need Luton to drop points to remain in the division for a second season.
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