Brighton dragged into scrap after Wood wakes up Clarets

LET’S hope nobody at the bottom end of the Premier League suffers from claustrophobia.

It seems to become more and more congested by the week, with just three points splitting Crystal Palace in 13th and Southampton in 18th.

So if you consider Huddersfield already doomed and Fulham pretty much written off, the thinnest of margins will determine the fate of the five clubs above the Saints.

Fine margins like Lewis Dunk slipping at the crucial moment to allow Burnley a goal, or two former players in Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes coming back to haunt Brighton.

While Wood’s double and Barnes’ penalty had Burnley surging three places up the standings, it’s an increasingly desperate situation for Brighton, who remain winless in the Premier League in 2019, and who have been sucked into the mire.

Cardiff’s last-gasp winner at Southampton earlier had dumped Burnley into the bottom three at kick-off. They started this game as though they had not quite woken up to relegation realities.

Twice inside the opening three minutes Tom Heaton had to make smart saves to deny the lively Solly March; the first a touch over the crossbar from a header, the second a push away at full stretch.

But Burnley soon shook off their doziness and almost took the lead in the 17th minute. Dwight McNeil’s run down the left culminated in a low shot that Shane Duffy turned against his own crossbar. The ball cannoned out to Barnes, whose header scraped the bar.

Heaton then denied March for a third time with incredible reactions. And how crucial that proved when Burnley seized the lead a minute later. Barnes lofted a ball from the left in towards Wood and when Dunk slipped, the Kiwi was through to finish.

The hosts could easily have restored parity before the break, the fingertips of Heaton touching the ball away as Pascal Gross tried to hook the ball home. Shane Duffy’s thumping header from a Gross corner was cleared off the line by Jeff Hendrick.

The second-half started with Brighton probing, but Burnley punished their lack of a cutting edge once again just after the hour. The eye-catching teenaged midfielder McNeil picked the perfect moment to slip Wood through on the left and his swept finish into the far corner.

And when Barnes raced through, he was brought down by Mat Ryan as he tried to skip around the goalkeeper. It was a clear penalty. Barnes tucked the penalty into the bottom corner. Many home fans made for the exits but Duffy kept interest alive by heading home from Anthony Knockaert’s free-kick.