Saints held; first win for Burnley
FOOTBALL
WOLVERHAMPTON: Southampton missed the chance to go third in the English Premier League after it was held to a 11 draw by Wolves at Molineux yesterday.
Conor Coady had played every minute of Wolves’ 84 league games since its promotion back to England’s top division in 2018, but was out after discovering he inadvertently came into contact with somebody who tested positive for Covid19s.
With fellow centreback Romain Saiss also out after contracting the virus, the home side switched to a fourman defence for the first time since May 2017 — before the arrival of manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
The Saints led through a 58thminute tapin from onloan Everton forward Theo Walcott.
The 31yearold netted for the south coast club, where he started his professional career, for the first time since January 2006.
‘‘I’m happy to work with Theo. He definitely showed it means something to him to play for this club,’’ Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl said.
‘‘You can feel how much he invests working for the team.
The former England winger missed a oneonone chance soon after, shooting wide of the post when clean through.
And that cost the visiting team when Raul Jimenez’s effort came back off the post to allow substitute Pedro Neto to sweep home the rebound in the 75th, leaving the Saints fifth.
‘‘We had some good spells of possession and we finished the game very strongly, on the front foot, pressing and creating huge problems for Southampton and having good chances,’’ Wolves manager Espirito Santo said.
Wolves climbed to ninth before games against Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Aston Villa prior Christmas.
Burnley finally claimed its first victory of the campaign, winning 10 against a Crystal Palace side missing star forward Wilfried Zaha after he tested positive for Covid.
New Zealand striker Chris Wood scored in the eighth minute to secure the win at its eighth attempt, helping the Clarets climb out of the bottom three and up to 17th on five points.
‘‘It gets a bit nervy because we hadn’t found that first win so to get that one done will do us the world of good,’’ Burnley manager Sean Dyche said.
Wood’s goal was Burnley’s first at home in the league this season and only its their fourth in total.
Palace struggled to create any clearcut openings without Zaha, who appeared in the side’s previous 59 Premier League games stretching back to February 2019.
The Eagles’ best chance fell in added time to substitute Christian Benteke, whose closerange effort was blocked by the outstretched left hand of goalkeeper Nick Pope. — AP