Burnley out of Woods for now with fine win
BURNLEY moved out of the Premier League relegation zone last night, with a crucial 2-1 victory over Wolves at Turf Moor.
A goal from Ashley Barnes, his first for a year, put Burnley on their way, and Chris Wood doubled their advantage. A late consolation from Wolves could not deny the hosts.
Sean Dyche’s team are now unbeaten in four games and will take great heart going into their other vital festive fixtures against Leeds, Sheffield United and Fulham.
Burnley started brightly, with Wood hooking just wide from a Dwight McNeil cross.
The deadlock was broken after 35 minutes. Barnes ended a run of 17 games without a goal, as he headed home from a fine Wood cross.
Ruben Neves fired a shot just over as Wolves tried to hit back instantly, while just after the break the hosts’ Josh Brownhill curled a shot that bounced off the crossbar.
Six minutes into the second half, it was 2-0. The Wolves defence failed to properly clear away Ashley Westwood’s free-kick, Ben Mee headed back into the danger area and when the ball deflected off Rayan Ait-Nouri into his path, Wood blasted into the roof of the net.
Wolves frantically tried to rescue the game. A Neves volley forced a decent save from Nick Pope. And a minute from time, the visitors did score as teenage substitute Fabio Silva netted from the penalty spot after he was tumbled over by Josh Benson. But it was too little too late, and Burnley moved up to 16th in the table, above Brighton and just a point below Arsenal.