BURNLEY........ 2 EVERTON........ 1
Arfield Turfs out Scousers again
SCOTT ARFIELD’S 90thminute winner gave Burnley more home comforts as they completed a Turf Moor double over the two big Merseyside clubs.
The midfielder, who returned in place of the injured Steven Defour, rifled home after Johann Berg Gudmundsson had hit the crossbar to move the Clarets to 10 points – all of them picked up in Lancashire.
Sam Vokes had earlier punished a mistake by Maarten Stekelenburg – a week after his two penalty saves against Manchester City – to give Burnley a 39th-minute lead before Yannick Bolasie equalised with his first Everton goal.
Toffees boss Ronald Koeman had recalled Ross Barkley after axing him at City and, in front of England assistant Sammy Lee, his first pass went astray.
But he was not alone in wasting possession and after Dean Marney had given the ball away, a mix-up between Ben Mee and Michael Keane allowed Kevin Mirallas to drill a shot at Tom Heaton.
The Clarets keeper came into this game having made a Premier League-high 39 saves and he added another three inside 16 minutes to deny Romelu Lukaku and Barkley.
Arfield then latched on to a flick by Gudmundsson and, although Ashley Williams took the sting out of the Canada international’s shot, Stekelenburg misjudged the effort and could only weakly palm the ball into Vokes’ path.
With Everton having dominated possession, the game had a similar feel to the Clarets’ 2-0 victory over Liverpool in August.
Barkley had a penalty shout rejected and Lukaku nearly reached Mirallas’ cross before Bolasie smashed in a 58th-minute leveller.
Burnley’s attack broke down at Vokes’ feet and when Mee was caught out trying to reach Lukaku, Everton had two men haring down the right. Bolasie carried the ball forward and smashed a right-footed finish low into the far corner.
It seemed as if Sean Dyche’s side were happy to hang on for a point but Arfield had other ideas.
Heaton’s long free-kick eventually found its way to Gudmundsson and though he struck the woodwork, Arfield converted the rebound by drilling home first-time into the far corner from 12 yards.
Dyche said: “Last week we didn’t play how we play, we didn’t make the game about us.
“Today it was about us. I was pleased we attempted to make the game about us.
“We like to play mixed football, we want to to make it awkward for the opposition. We want to work from a good, solid framework, which I thought was on show. I thought they gave everything.
“We are not going to play like Barcelona. We’re telling the world we will give everything to continue to be in the Premier League.
“Over the last three and a half years of my time here it’s been a difficult place for teams to come to.
“We want that, we need that. It’s difficult to get points on the road.”
Koeman said: “It’s very hard to take, going home with no points, but football is sometimes really unfair.
“We started the game well. We had, in the first five or 10 minutes, two good opportunities. But after 20 to 25 minutes I think we dropped a little bit in intensity.
“The reaction of the players was really good in the second half, higher tempo, better football, we scored a good goal and then you need to go and continue.
“We tried and they waited for one moment and they got the moment and that’s what happened.”
BURNLEY: Heaton 8; Lowton 6, Keane 7, Mee 6, Ward 6 (Flanagan 83rd); Berg Gudmundsson 7, Marney 6, Hendrick 6, Kightly 5 (Tarkowski (74th) 6), Arfield 7; Vokes 7 (Bamford 89th) EVERTON: Stekelenburg 5; Coleman 6, Jagielka 6 (Valencia 90th), Williams 6, Oviedo 6; Gueye 6 (Cleverley 83rd), Barry 6, Barkley 7; Bolasie 7; Lukaku 6, Mirallas 6 (Deulofeu 76th) STAR MAN: Tom Heaton REF: M Jones Burnley’s next game: Manchester United, Oct 29 (A) Everton’s next game: West Ham, Oct 30 (H)