Burnley 0 - 1 SwanseaLeroy Fer strikes late as Swansea spoil Burnley’s top-flight return
Away team scorersLeroy Fer 82
Leroy Fer settled a meeting of two of the top-flight’s less-fancied teams and provided newly promoted manager, Sean Dyche, with a timely reminder concerning the dire need to strengthen his team before the summer transfer window closes.
Swansea midfielder Fer was on hand eight minutes from time to tap into an open net after Burnley keeper, Tom Heaton, had saved smartly from a header by new signing Fernando Llorente. The goal inflicted the first league defeat since Boxing Day on last season’s Championship winners.
The two teams opened the new season with just one summer signing between them in their starting line-ups - Llorente - and what followed suggested that the respective managers will have much work to do in the remaining weeks of the summer transfer window.
At least an opening that could most kindly be described as “cagey” allowed Llorente an easy introduction to the Premier League and early signs were promising from the former Spain international.
On 22 minutes, he pounced on a mistake from Ben Mee, caught in possession halfway into the home half, and advanced before unleashing a speculative shot which Heaton covered with the minimum of fuss.
Andre Gray, of whom Burnley expect great things this season, had his first glimpse of a Premier League goal just after the half hour but failed to keep down a wild volley which flew high and wide.
But, as the half progressed, it was the visitors who settled the more impressively and who looked the likelier team to open the scoring. Not for the first time, Mo Barrow was a problem for Burnley when he picked out Wayne Routledge with a far-post cross which his team mate volleyed, first-time, back across goal and well wide.
Fer and Stephen Kingsley both tried their luck from distance and Swansea were almost caught out on a rare Burnley counter when Dean Marney fed Gray who ghosted past Kyle Naughton before drawing the first meaningful save of the game from Lukasz Fabianski.
The half ended with the visitors firmly on the front foot, however, as Sam Vokes was required to make an acrobatic clearance inside his own six-yard box following a cross from Kingsley and Routledge’s corner found Jordi Amat who showed solid technique in keeping his shot low, only to see it cleared off the line by Scott Arfield.
Swansea had made little secret of their wish to make Llorente the focal point of their attack, the tall striker’s technique and experience making him a constant worry for a Burnley defence that was impressive last season, conceding just 35 goals in 46 games during the promotion campaign.
Certainly, Llorente’s presence was a concern for Burnley in the second half as Heaton flapped at a Routledge cross under pressure from the Spaniard and Barrow saw a goal-bound shot blocked by Matt Lowton with the keeper stranded.
By then, Marney had been presented with his team’s best chance of the half, and game to date, as he connected with a George Boyd cross, placing a header just over and on to the roof of the Swansea goal.
As the game finally opened up, Kyle Naughton sent a curling shot flying over the home goal while Armat was cautioned for a foul on Gray. It was the start of a spell of home pressure which ended with Fabianski looking to have been impeded in trying to deal with David Jones’s corner and Michael Keane just failing to convert at the unguarded far post.
The Turf Moor crowd suitably invigorated, Fabianski was forced out of his area to beat Gray to a through ball, picking up a knock from Arfield as he kicked the ball out of play and inciting the wrath of the home crowd, who believed the Swansea keeper to be time wasting.
The pressure continued to mount, as Arfield played through Vokes whose first time shot was turned away by Fabianski diving smartly to his left, and on the hour Boyd’s shot was defected into the path of Lowton who hurried his shot disappointingly wide.
Despite indications to the contrary over the opening hour, the game was starting to entertain, with Heaton turning away a deflected free-kick from substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson, and conceding a corner from which Jack Cork’s flick-on found Federico Fernández feet from goal, only for the defender to somehow clear the crossbar with a volley.
After the late Swansea winner, it was left to Fabianski to secure all three points with a magnificent two-handed save to keep out a Marney shot which took a wicked deflection on its way through a crowded penalty area.
Guardian