FULL TIME: Burnley 2-1 Everton
The whistle goes! Turf Moor erupts! Burnley come from behind to win a Premier League game under Sean Dyche for the very first time, at the 54th attempt! Their 12-game winless streak comes to an end! And Everton’s dreadful record on the road continues: it’s now one win in the last 23, and they’ve lost the last six. Dyche celebrates: his team remain in seventh, up to 40 points at last. Everton meanwhile stay in ninth for now, on 34 points, just seven clear of the drop zone. Which probably isn’t an issue, but, y’know. Sam Allardyce trudges off wearing a wry smile. He knows that’s not good enough from Everton, who were dismal in the second half. If he somehow doesn’t know, the travelling Everton support are putting him straight in the vocal style. Either way, Burnley deserved to win a thoroughly entertaining game: their long wait for a three-point haul is finally over thanks to a storming second-half performance!
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90 min +2: Calvert-Lewin dribbles down the left with great determination, riding a couple of tackles. But he can’t do it all on his own. A third tackle puts a stop to his gallop.
90 min: They’ll need to see out three added minutes.
89 min: Bolasie hooks in from the left. Pope again rises to claim. The tension is palpable. Burnley and their supporters have waited so long for a win. Can they get over the line?
88 min: Bolasie’s eager running earns Everton a corner on the left. Turf Moor falls silent; letting that lead slip here in injury time against Southampton is still raw. But Pope claims the set piece without fuss or drama.
RED CARD! Williams (Everton)
86 min: Rooney is bundled over by Lowton as he romps down the left. A chance for Everton to load the box. Rooney takes it himself. The ball’s whipped into the mixer. The referee immediately blows up for shoving. In fact, it’s worst than that, because Williams loses his cool in a tussle with Barnes and sticks his right arm in the striker’s startled boat! The referee flashes red. Williams departs, and doesn’t bother arguing the toss.
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85 min: Martina sends a hanging cross into the Burnley box from the left. Pope comes to claim. Calvert-Lewin knocks him over. The clock continues to tick: it’s now Burnley’s friend.
83 min: Bolasie comes on for Sigurdsson. The Everton fans aren’t particuarly taken with that decision, and make their feelings known.
82 min: And there were Everton, suddenly looking dangerous for the first time in this second half. Funny old game, as they used to say on 1980s ITV.
GOAL! Burnley 2-1 Everton (Wood 80)
This is so simple! The corner’s launched into the mixer. Wood, at the far post, attacks the ball while Williams stands still. He bashes his header across Pickford and into the left-hand side of the net! Burnley are ten minutes away from their first win since December!
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79 min: Burnley respond well, Barnes causing more trouble and earning a corner down the right. Lennon has a shot from the edge of the box. It’s deflected wide left. Another corner. From which ...
78 min: Everton really have stepped it up! Now Sigurdsson latches onto a half-arsed Mee clearance, shifts his feet down the inside-left channel, and tries to guide a shot into the bottom right from 12 yards. It flashes inches wide of the post. He had four blue shirts in the middle, too, waiting for a pass or a rebound. Everton came very close there.
77 min: Suddenly there’s a bit more snap in Everton’s play. Walcott makes good down the right and loops long. Rooney can’t quite rise at the far post. Burnley clear.
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76 min: And now Niasse earns a corner on the left. The set piece doesn’t really lead to much, but this is much better from the visitors, who have Burnley on the back foot suddenly. It’s been a long time coming.
75 min: Walcott dribbles into the Burnley box from the right. He’s allowed two attempts at a cross. The second is nearly bundled home at the near post by Sigurdsson, but Lowton challenges superbly to save a certain goal. Rooney tries to keep the move going, and Niasse hooks a wild effort over the bar. Finally, Everton turn up for the second half!
73 min: Mee launches long. Wood brings it down unchallenged. He knocks the ball to the right for Cork, who returns it high into the box. Wood’s header towards the top right isn’t troubling Pickford.
71 min: Westwood strokes a pass down the left for the superb Barnes. Williams doesn’t get very tight, and Barnes has space to curl in a cross. Wood is in the middle, waiting, hoping, but the delivery isn’t up to much.
70 min: The first serious lull of a high-tempo match.
68 min: Everton’s goalscorer makes way: Tosun departs, Niasse comes on.
67 min: Lowton and Barnes combine down the right again, very nearly replicating the equaliser. Williams plays the role of Keane this time. And Pickford makes himself big to save the day. Gudmundsson tries to hammer home the rebound, but it’s eventually deflected out for a corner. Nothing comes of that.
65 min: Two-pass Everton moves are at a premium right now. The equaliser has rattled them, though at least they’ve managed to push the action back into the centre of the park now, as opposed to their own box.
63 min: Here’s another stat from Sky. Burnley’s record under Sean Dyche in the Premier League after conceding first is quite something: played 53, lost 42, drawn 11, won none. Could they get another today and put an end to that frankly weird record?
61 min: The set piece leads to nothing. Turf Moor is bouncing, though. This has been a gloriously entertaining game, with both sides bringing plenty to the table. Burnley are right on top at the moment, though.
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60 min: Rooney comes on for Davies. Everton continue to fret. Lennon runs at them, right to left, across the front of the box. He slips the ball to Gudmundsson, who enters the area down the channel, then fizzes a tap-me-in cross through the six-yard box. Coleman nudges it out for a corner before Barnes can meet it.
58 min: Everton are suddenly very ragged. Barnes, Wood, Lennon and Gudmundsson swarm their box from all angles. It’s like the opening credits of Dad’s Army. Everton are in a panic, and for a second a goal looks inevitable. But the ball never quite sits up for a shot, the Burnley players get in each other’s way, and Everton somehow hack the ball clear.
GOAL! Burnley 1-1 Everton (Barnes 56)
Sky flash up a caption showing that Burnley have only scored 10 goals at home all season, the worst record in the top four divisions. The shame shocks them into action! Lowton curls a beautifully weighted pass down the right flank to send Barnes scampering goalwards. He’s got the better of Keane, who is slow and out of position. Barnes strides into the area, and lashes past Pickford, who for once has no answer. A deserved equaliser!
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55 min: A free kick for Everton out on the left, Tosun having been nudged in the back by Tarkowski. Sigurdsson hits the free kick long, and nearly finds Williams coming in at the right-hand post. Nope. But it was close, and a fine delivery. Goal kick.
54 min: Everton stabilise by faffing around in the midfield awhile. It quietens the crowd and gets them up the park a bit.
52 min: Lowton, out on the right, plays a blind pass back infield. Walcott very nearly nips in to intercept - he’d be through on goal had he done so - but Pope comes out of his box to blooter free.
51 min: That’s a fine start to the half by Burnley, though, who clearly aren’t of a mind to take this scoreline lying down. Everton have yet to get going again.
49 min: And he’s at it again from the corner! Mee sends a header flashing towards the top right from close range. Pickford does astonishingly well to stick out a strong hand, keeping the ball out. It does drop to Wood, though, who should tap the falling ball home with his head from close range. But he skims it over the bar.
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48 min: Good work from Gudmundsson down the left, and suddenly there’s space for Lennon, coming in from the right. He peals a glorious rising shot towards the top right, but Pickford turns it round the post. Another magnificent save by this excellent young keeper.
47 min: Wood is straight into the action. Lowton sends a long pass down the right. Keane should deal with it, but pressure from Wood on his shoulder forces him into the concession of a corner. From the set piece, Everton fail to clear. There’s a scuffle, and eventually the ball drops to Mee on the edge of the box. He shoots, but it’s into a thicket of players. Blocked. Cleared.
And we’re off again! Everton get the second half underway. One change: Chris Wood, Burnley’s record signing, comes on for Jeff Hendrick. “Surely Julio Caesarean has to be in as a sub goalie?” wonders David Moore. I don’t know why I encourage Millings.
Meanwhile some breaking news ...
On the basis of how this technology has worked to date, something’s going to happen at the World Cup which will make the brouhaha between Honduras and El Salvador during the qualifiers for Mexico 70 look like cucumber sandwiches at the vicar’s garden party. Follow all the action here, on the Guardian MBM!
Half-time happy birthdays, like they do for little kids over the PA at matches: “Just this past week, it was MBM (and OBO) stalwart Phil Sawyer’s birthday,” begins Mac Millings, 9. “Could I possibly wish him many happy returns and give him, as an unwanted present, my All-time Birth(day) XI?
Gravid De Gea
Congratuleighton Baines
Birth Canalan Hansen
Jaapy Birthday Stam
For Reece a Jolly Good Fellow Oxford
Johnny Rhythm Metgod
Sex Fabregas
Nigel Umbilicallaghan
Condominic Calvert-Lewin
Delivery Alli
Pregnanthony Martial
On the bench: Goalkeeper: David Seaman. Placenta forward: Ovum Rösler.”
HALF TIME: Burnley 0-1 Everton
And that’s that for the first half. It’s been a blast. An icy blast, but a blast nonetheless. Burnley have probably been the better side, on the balance of play, but Everton have been resolute at the back, and their goal was a thing of crisp, old-school beauty. More of this, everyone, please!
45 min: Burnley push Everton back a bit, but the visitors hold their shape on the edge of their area. There’s no way through.
43 min: Lowton launches a long throw into the Everton area from the right. Barnes barges Martina out of the road and flicks on, but there’s nobody behind him to benefit in the Coleman-Tosun style. Pickford claims.
42 min: This match has been great fun. But it’s slowing down as half time approaches. So here’s Ian Burch with a story to warm the cockles on a freezing day: “About 20 years ago I had the pleasure of watching Orient play Mansfield on a frozen pitch mysteriously passed as fit to play by the ref. A bitterly cold day was enlivened by the appearance of the ponytailed Brian Kilcline for Mansfield. If ever a player was perfect for such conditions it was Killer who spent the match crashing into hoardings and any opponent not afraid to get close to him, not quite as mad as Rick Wakeman’s King Arthur on ice, but not far off.”
39 min: Ward cuts in from the left and is stopped unceremoniously by Walcott, who had his foot up and studs showing, but escapes a booking. The free kick’s looped into the mixer. Lennon gets a touch on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. He pokes the ball across the face of goal, but Mee can’t sort his feet out to slam home! Pickford saves the day again, and Everton breathe out.
38 min: To be fair to Burnley, Coleman had - accidentally but painfully - trodden on Gudmundsson’s ankle. Ooyah, oof. But that’s how it panned out.
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36 min: Westwood is correctly booked for clanking clumsily into Davies in the midfield. It’s an obvious yellow, though Westwood isn’t having it, maybe because Coleman had committed a garden-variety foul on Gudmundsson a split second earlier, but the referee waved play on. Play to the whistle.
35 min: Now Barnes swivels past Willams to the left of the Everton D and sends a rising shot towards the top left. Pickford picks it. This is a lot of fun.
34 min: This is a really entertaining game. So much for the dour nonsense that had been predicted by, well, just about everyone. Barnes chases a long ball down the right, but can’t quite get the better of Keane as he attempts an elaborate chip from the edge of the box. Keane blocks. Everton go up the other end, Walcott cutting in from the right. His clipped shot from just inside the area is swallowed by Pope.
33 min: ... Gueye shanks woefully wide from 25 yards. Ah well, if you don’t buy a ticket.
32 min: Cork dallies in front of his own area and has his pocket picked by Walcott. The next totally unnecessary phase of play - from Burnley’s point of view - leads to an Everton corner on the right. From which ...
30 min: Pickford’s astonishing save led to a corner, which led to ... not much. Burnley are certainly pressing for an equaliser, though.
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29 min: A world-class save by the sensational Jordan Pickford! Lowton crosses from the right. Barnes meets it in the Keith Houchen style, guiding his header towards the top left. That’s surely flying into the corner of the net! But no. Pickford extends an arm, then all of his fingers, and tips gloriously away. That’s delightful football all round ... but what a save. England’s World Cup keeper, surely.
28 min: It’s end to end stuff. Hendrick has a shot blocked by Gueye. Everton sprint up the other end, Walcott suddenly finding himself free in the box on the left. He’s got blue shirts up with him in the middle, but opts for a cute flick around Pope from a tight angle. The keeper smothers.
26 min: Calvert-Lewin is rightly booked for a desperately late slide on Ward, as he chases a ball he was never likely to get down the right. It’s not a good challenge, catching Ward’s standing leg, but to be fair it looked an issue of poor timing rather than intent.
24 min: Martina makes a nine-course tasting meal of shepherding a ball back to Pickford. Lennon very nearly nips in between defender and keeper, but Everton’s job is eventually completed. Still a sense that the visitors may be vulnerable at the back, even if they’ve just had a huge confidence boost up front. To emphasise this point, here’s a tactical note from Evertonian Gary Naylor: “There are snowmen more mobile than Ashley Williams and with better positional sense than Michael Keane.”
22 min: That goal has seen Everton’s confidence come flooding back. Walcott tears down the centre of the pitch at great speed, and with great purpose. He’s got Burnley’s back line backtracking in panic. He slips the ball to his left. Tosun dribbles into the area, drops a shoulder inside, and looks to curl a low pass into the bottom right. Pope reads it and snaffles, but what a tonic a goal can be!
GOAL! Burnley 0-1 Everton (Tosun 20)
Cenk Tosun scores his first goal in an Everton shirt! Sigurdsson takes a free kick from the left with the Burnley box loaded. It’s dreadful, easily cleared by the first man. But no worries! Everton recycle possession, feeding Walcott on the right. Walcott whips a cross to the near post. Coleman eyebrows it on. Tosun comes in from behind, and expertly guides a header into the right-hand portion of the net, Pope given no chance! That’s a lovely goal.
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19 min: Gudmundsson makes his way into the Everton box on the left. He reaches the byline and fires low through the six-yard box. Barnes stretches to poke home, but Pickford is down to fingertip the ball away from danger. Wonderful goalkeeping. A corner follows, but it comes to nowt.
17 min: Now it’s Burnley’s turn to pass up a glorious chance. Lennon zips past Martina down the right with ease, a beautiful burst of pace and skill. He whips a cross to the far post. It’s half cleared, but the ball falls to Cork, 12 yards out, level with the left-hand post. It’s a harder chance than Walcott’s, but he should still get it on target at least. Again, it flies over the posts in the rugby style.
14 min: From a throw on the left, Sigurdsson dances into the Burnley area. Some lovely tight control. He dribbles to the byline, then cuts back accurately for Walcott, eight yards out. Walcott surely must score. He has to get it on target, at least. But he snatches at his first-time shot, leaning back, and the result is only clinical in rugby union. What a miss. But what delightful play by Sigurdsson. A phantom assist.
12 min: Sam Allardyce is doing quite a lot of shouting on the touchline. He’s not too happy with what he’s seen so far. Gueye cops a bit of flak for not showing at a throw-in.
10 min: Gudmundsson is lively today, though. Now he’s spraying a wild shot into the stand behind Everton’s goal, having latched onto a knockdown by Barnes from a searching right-wing Lennon cross.
9 min: A free kick for Burnley out on the right. A chance to load the box. Everton look collectively fidgety, betraying their current lack of confidence. But Gudmundsson scuffs the delivery, the ball flat, weak and aimless. Everton hack clear with a yawn, no trouble at all.
7 min: The hosts come again, Lowton striding down the right and looping a lovely cross towards the far post. Coleman clears with Barnes lurking. Everton go up the other end and fling in a cross of their own, Martina’s effort from the left too high for Tosun in the centre. But only just.
5 min: Pickford again claims easily, snaffling a Gudmundsson left-wing cross without too much fuss. But Burnley are beginning to show a little bite in attack.
4 min: It’s a little bit scrappy at the moment. Tarkowski nearly gifts possession to Davies in the midfield, but recovers; just as well, because Burnley were light at the back. Then Gudmundsson has a crack at goal from 20 yards, latching onto a poor Keane clearance. His shot has the sting taken out of it by an Everton shirt, and Pickford claims easily.
2 min: Sigurdsson puts Lowton in a spot with a bit of gegenpressing, on the left-hand corner of the Burnley box. The hosts are on the back foot, but Calvert-Lewin charges in to help. He’s way too eager, and commits a silly foul that takes the pressure off the hosts.
And we’re off! The hosts get the ball rolling, and launch it long. Twenty seconds of head tennis. Ward threads a pass down the left with a view to releasing Hendrick, but the flag goes up for offside. A brisk start, to go with the weather.
The teams are out! No pre-match chat today with Sean Dyche, presumably because Sky Sports had a pre-recorded love-in with Burnley supporter Alastair Campbell in the can. The players take to the pitch, which has been painstakingly cleared of snow by the hard-working ground staff. A marvellous job, and a scene of the most wonderful verdancy. It’s still freezing, mind. Zero degrees centigrade ... and it feels like minus five. As noted in the preamble, it’s March. Burnley are in their famous claret, Everton sport their storied blue. We’ll be off in a minute!
Pre-match entertainment. Have you seen the weather out there?
Big Sam speaks! “The performance at Watford, while not the best, looked like it was going to end up as a result. From an attacking point of view we got into the final third on 36 occasions and in the penalty area even more so. But we only had seven shots at goal and two on target, so we’re trying to be a bit more creative on the front line. And defensively we were sound apart from the goal we let in. So we have to try to balance the two. Let’s try and be creative and score more. It’s going to be tough against Burnley because they’re very good on their own patch. Michael Keane wants to show how good he is on his return, hopefully he will be solid and sound as he was for Burnley.”
Burnley make one change from their recent draw at Turf Moor with Southampton. James Tarkowski replaces Kevin Long in the defence.
Everton make three changes to the XI named for the defeat at Watford. Cenk Tosun and Dominic Calvert-Lewin come in to lead the line, while Seamus Coleman returns at right back. Wayne Rooney and Oumar Niasse drop to the bench, while Jonjoe Kenny misses out altogether.
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The teams
Burnley: Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Ward, Gudmundsson, Cork, Westwood, Lennon, Hendrick, Barnes.
Subs: Nkoudou, Marney, Vokes, Wood, Lindegaard, Bardsley, Long.
Everton: Pickford, Coleman, Williams, Keane, Martina, Davies, Gueye, Walcott, Calvert-Lewin, Sigurdsson, Tosun.
Subs: Schneiderlin, Baines, Bolasie, Rooney, Niasse, Holgate, Robles.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh (Lancashire).
Preamble
It’s March. A fairly basic observation, it’s true, though one worth making. That’s because Burnley haven’t won a game in the Premier League since early December. That’s an 11-match streak. Everton meanwhile have only tasted victory once on the road in England’s top division since the start of February 2017. That’s one win in 22 away matches. This lunchtime’s fare is something of a hard sell.
Then again, this is a showdown between seventh and ninth. In the chase to be crowned Best of the Rest outside the Big Six ... yeah, I know ... both these famous old clubs are in with a shout, despite it all. The Clarets are somehow clinging onto seventh spot, while the Toffees remain in the top half even though they’ve lost five of their last eight.
Burnley start this one as favourites. They won at Goodison in October, and another win today, in Sean Dyche’s 250th game in charge, will complete their first league double over Everton since 1959-60. That’s the season Burnley won their second title, pipping Wolverhampton Wanderers to become champions of England. Times change, huh.
But Everton will fancy themselves too. They’ve won three of their last five games against Burnley, and their meetings with their Lancastrian neighbours usually produces a result one way or the other: none of their games in the Premier League era has ended in a draw. Everton are 4-3 up after seven games, since you ask. It’s on!
Kick off ... and the game is definitely ON, despite the snow and freezing temperatures ... is at: 12.30pm.
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