West Ham 1 - 0 BurnleyMark Noble counts his spot luck as West Ham see off bullish Burnley
Home team scorersMark Noble 45 +2:24
West Ham stepped another inch away from the relegation zone with a narrow win over a dogged Burnley side who remain above the Hammers in the table.
A Mark Noble goal decided a scrappy but well fought match, though Burnley will feel they could have left the London Stadium with a point after a series of close second-half shaves.
After taking a determined point against Liverpool, Slaven Bilic declared this game a must-win for his struggling side. The Croat had also spoken of the importance of Andy Carroll to his team and duly handed the striker, on his latest comeback from injury, a first start since August here.
Burnley, with only one point in their past six away games, decided to go on the front foot, bringing in Andre Gray alongside Sam Vokes in a 4-4-2 that saw the midfield anchor Steven Defour drop to the bench.
With both teams having declared their attacking intent in this manner, it was perhaps no surprise that the first half was a tense affair. The Hammers dominated possession, looking to get crosses into the box as often as possibl but the ball rarely found their towering Geordie target; nor did they have much joy getting in behind Burnley’s solid backline.
With those struggles, West Ham often resorted to shooting from range, perhaps not such a sign of desperation given the ability within their team. Manuel Lanzini drove the ball over the bar in the eighth minute before Michail Antonio’s effort was held low by Tom Heaton in the 33rd. Two minutes later Pedro Obiang hit the post from 25 yards. With the game heading into added time, Noble did the same with a curling shot from just inside the box.
The West Ham captain has not been immune from criticism during his team’s bad run of form this season, but he looked back to his busy best in this match and duly scored the decisive goal in first-half injury time.
A late flurry had given West Ham a series of set pieces, most of which skimmed their way across the Burnley box. With time running out Dimitri Payet drove in another corner and finally found Carroll, who won his knock-down. With Cheikhou Kouyaté blocking the keeper the ball looked set to fall to Winston Reid six yards out until Ben Mee hauled the New Zealander to the floor. The referee, Bobby Madley, duly awarded the penalty.
Noble stepped up but while his effort was low and true it was still saved by Heaton to his left. Unfortunately for the keeper, the ball bounced back into Noble’s path and he tucked it calmly home.
Burnley did not change their approach a jot after the break, they simply upped the intensity. Their determination to win second balls lead to a number of free-kicks which Scott Arfield delivered with consistent danger. Vokes reverse-flicked one round the post, then saw a header cleared off the line, but the big Welshman was to curse himself when he blew the Clarets’ biggest chance of the match in the 61st minute.
Vokes started the move himself, turning a quick break into an incisive attack with a threaded pass through to Arfield. The wide man drove beyond Kouyaté and got his shot off, which Darren Randolph saved with his toe. The rebound just missed Gray but came to Vokes again. Just six yards out and with the goal at his mercy, he headed over.
Arfield later drove another free-kick direct at goal but saw Randolph tip it round the post. West Ham had their own chance to wrap it up when substitute André Ayew bustled through in added time, but he skewed his shot wide. At the final whistle the loudest cheer of the match erupted, the points more important than the performance.
Guardian