FARKE FUMES AS NINE-MAN NORWICH ARE EMBARRASSED

THIS game was always guaranteed to be shown first on Match of the Day, by virtue of it being the only Premier League fixture yesterday.

It earned its top spot nonetheless. Unfortunately for Norwich, that came at their expense, with two red cards, a shinned overhead-kick opener and an own goal.

First Emi Buendia was sent off for an elbow to the back of Ashley Westwood’s head.

Then Josip Drmic lunged in on Erik Pieters. It was ugly, dangerous, and Chris Wood opened the scoring seconds later. That completed 15 minutes of carnage.

To top it off, late on, Ben Godfrey casually knocked the ball into his own net while trying to control a cross.

‘Naive, inexperienced, stupid – all the words are right,’ Norwich boss Daniel Farke said. ‘It’s not acceptable. It’s not possible to win points with eight players.’

Without Buendia and Drmic, Norwich tried to minimise the embarrassment against a Burnley side fighting for European qualification.

‘We’ve equalled our best ever total,’ said boss Sean Dyche of their 54 Premier League points. ‘To have 15 clean sheets and the wins on the table is very pleasing.’

After half an hour, Buendia and Westwood became embroiled. VAR looked at the clash and recommended the referee look at it, too. Friend went to his monitor and after examining from a single angle, made his mind up. Red for Buendia, for an elbow into the back of Westwood’s head.

Before half-time, Norwich went down to nine. Drmic dived in on Pieters and saw red. Seconds later, Wood met Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s cross with an overhead kick.

Finally, Godfrey found his own net, perhaps summing up Norwich’s sorry season.