As It Happened: Burnley 1-1 Fulham

That’s it for VAVEL UK’s live text commentary of this Premier League match between Burnley and Fulham — we hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned at the side for more live coverage and further reaction and analysis to all top flight matches this week.

Possession: 46%-54%

Shots: 8-9

On target: 3-4

Corners: 5-5

Fouls: 7-13

Well, it all happened in the opening stages of the second half.

Aina gave Fulham the lead from a set-piece situation just after the break, but Barnes equalised for Burnley almost immediately after superb work from Rodriguez.

Burnley remain eight points clear of their opponents in 18th, while Fulham move within six points of Newcastle just above them.

There will be three minutes of stoppage time at the end of this half.

Maja controls the ball brilliantly on the edge of the box and tees up Lookman to the left of him. The winger attempted a curling effort towards the far top corner, but it whistled just wide of the post.

Wow, Fulham should have taken a late, late lead there.

Loftus-Cheek fizzes a ball into the area, but Maja misses it with his swing and Lookman knew little about it when it fell to him.

Anguissa attempts to clip the ball through to Lookman through on goal, but Long manages to hoof the ball away in the nick of time.

We're into the last ten minutes now. Which side, if either, will grab that decisive goal?

Tete makes way for Antonee Robinson, as Aina shifts to the right of Fulham's back four.

Cavaleiro skips down the right flank and crosses into the box for Loftus-Cheek, but the midfielder just took his eye off the ball at the crucial moment and skewed his header wide.

Burnley appeal for a handball by Loftus-Cheek in the penalty area, but to no avail; the midfielder's arm was in a natural position by his side.

Fulham work the ball nicely to Maja on the edge of the area. The striker turns on the spot and takes aim with his left foot, but Pope was equal to the effort.

Lots of pack shuffling from each of the managers in the last ten or so minutes.

Decordova-Reid makes way for Cavaleiro.

Brownhill comes on for Brady who, in all honesty, had a bit of a shocker since replacing Gudmundsson in the first half.

Anguissa comes on for Lemina in Fulham's midfield.

Taylor crosses towards the back post for Brady, but he fails to direct his free header on target.

There's only been one team in this game since Fulham's goal; Burnley are well on top at the moment.

Westwood sets Rodriguez through on goal, but the angle was ever-tightening for the striker, and Areola was equal to his resultant effort.

53' Instant reply from the visitors!

Rodriguez left Adarabioyo for dead with a brilliant turn on the flank and crossed immediately for Barnes. The striker initially struggled to control the ball, but finished coolly with Areola stranded.

Back to square one in this match where victory is a necessity for both.

That came off Ola Aina's chest from pretty much point blank range, but he'll take it; they all count in this battle to beat the drop!

49' Fulham break the deadlock!

Andersen flicks on Lookman's corner and Aina directs the ball towards goal without knowing much about it. Brady was there to clear the ball on the line but missed his kick altogether.

A huge, huge goal for the visitors.

A good breakaway by Fulham sees Loftus-Cheek set Tete free down the right, but McNeil recovers well to prevent the cross and force the ball out of play.

Brady goes into the book for a nasty challenge on Harrison Reed in midfield.

Westwood kicks the match off again.

The teams are back on the pitch, and the restart is imminent.

Burnley's expected goals value (0.41) was 0.35 better than Fulham's in the first-half (0.06). They also had 11 touches in the opposition box, compared to the 4 of their opponents. And, as we saw before the match, Fulham rarely enjoy playing at Turf Moor; they haven't won here since 1951.

Burnley might be disappointed not to have headed into the break a goal up.

Possession: 46%-54%

Shots: 3-2

On target: 1-1

Corners: 4-2

Fouls: 1-6

It's a stalemate at the break.

Fulham have seen a bit more of the ball, but Burnley have certainly been on top, and worked a fabulous opportunity to break the deadlock right at the end of the half, but for a crucial intervention from Areola.

An absolutely huge second half in this season's battle to beat the drop awaits.

There will be two minutes of stoppage time at the end of this half.

Tarkowski, of all people, storms down the left wing and supplies a sumptuous cross into the area. It evades the reach of Barnes, then Areola gets an important fingertip to the ball, diverting it away from Rodriguez at the back post.

Great work from Fulham's goalkeeper, but Burnley will be wondering how they didn't score.

We're seeing some sustained pressure from Burnley at the end of this half, trying to nick that crucial goal before the break.

At a corner, Lookman floats the ball to Lemina on the edge of the box, but the midfielder's first-time volley soared way over the crossbar.

Yep, that'll be the end of Gudmundsson's night. Straight down the tunnel for the Icelandic winger as he's replaced by Robbie Brady.

Burnley's physios are on the pitch attending to Gudmundsson, who appeared to stretch his leg out awkwardly in a duel with Aina.

Still no genuine clear-cut chances this half, except perhaps Barnes' miscued volley earlier.

Burnley are probably having the better of the play, but Fulham have enjoyed more of the ball and could work an opening at any given moment.

Moss comes over to cool Scott Parker down on the touchline. The Fulham manager's been quite animated in the last five minutes or so.

Good build-up play from Fulham works space for Tete to cross from the right, looking for the run of Maja, but Long manages to react quicker than the striker to turn the ball away.

He put his body on the line there, taking a stud or two to the leg; really good defending.

Westwood fancies his ability to pull off the spectacular tonight; he lines up a volley from about 35 yards out, but the effort falls straight into the palms of Areola.

McNeil whips in a corner and, with Areola marshalled by Barnes, Long was able to head the ball from about six yards out, somehow turning his effort over the bar.

That was a really good chance for Burnley.

Westwood attempts an audacious lofted pass over the Fulham defence to Barnes, and manages to pick out the striker spectacularly, but the 31-year old missed the ball completely with his attempted volley.

Rodriguez attempts to head into the path of Barnes lurking in the box following a set-piece, but Areola just about managed to get to the ball before the Burnley striker.

Loftus-Cheek dispossessed Tarkowski in the centre of the pitch and darted forward. He wanted to slide the ball across to Maja on his left, but the defender got back to poke the ball away.

A crucial intervention; Maja would've been through on goal.

Loftus-Cheek puts in a heavily committed challenge on Taylor, and John Moss reaches straight for his pocket to book the Chelsea loanee.

Lookman has driven at Lowton a couple of times already, but has yet to get the beating of his man - that could be a crucial battle in this match.

A momentary intervention from VAR there, checking a duel between Long and Decordova-Reid in the box, but it upheld the referee's decision not to award a penalty.

No chances of note yet, but Burnley have been on top so far, Fulham scarcely able to escape their own half.

McNeil whips a good ball into the area and Gudmundsson attempted to head back into the path of the onrushing Westwood, but Lemina got there first to clear.

There's been a number of lofted long balls so far, neither side really managing to keep hold of the ball or muster any meaningful possession.

Lookman attempts an early dink over the Burnley defence, searching for the run of Sunday night's hero Maja, but Tarkowski cut it out well.

Ademola Lookman gets the match going at Turf Moor.

The teams are emerging onto the Turf Moor pitch. We're not far off getting underway here.

Areola; Tete, Andersen, Adarabioyo, Aina; Reed, Lemina; Decordova-Reid, Loftus-Cheek, Lookman; Maja.

Substitutes: Rodak, Odoi, Hector, Ream, Kongolo, Robinson, Anguissa, Onomah, Cavaleiro.

Pope; Lowton, Tarkowski, Long, Taylor; Gudmundsson, Westwood, Cork, McNeil; Barnes, Rodriguez.

Substitues: Norris, Peacock-Farrell, Bardsley, Driscoll-Glennon, Dunne, Brady, Brownhill, Benson, Mumbongo.

That’s it for now, but the live text commentary will resume around one hour before kick-off as we bring you the team news.

This fixture will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event for supporters with a Sky subscription, though you can of course follow all of the action as it happens here on VAVEL UK with minute-by-minute updates on all the goings on during the match.

“The other night, was there a big difference in performance? Not really. Granted, I thought we played very, very well, but we’ve played very well over the last run of 14 games.

“We now have a massive week of games ahead of us; we go to Burnley on Wednesday, Sheffield United at the weekend, and then Crystal Palace.

“Like always, it’s a massive game for us ahead. We understand the problems that Burnley are going to cause us, and we need to be prepared for that.”

“[Mee]’s fine, but we still have to follow the protocols, the medical protocols, so he won’t be available.

“It’s very difficult for medical teams now because there are that many rules — rightly so, by the way — to make players safe, and to get on there quickly to affect things, they have to be cautious.

“My feeling on not targeting games is that I can’t talk about the need for consistency and then only apply it to certain games. My way of looking at it is that we should be up for every game.”

Burnley — Pope; Lowton, Tarkowski, Long, Taylor; Gudmundsson, Westwood, Cork, McNeil; Barnes, Rodriguez.

Fulham — Areola; Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo, Robinson; Reed, Lemina; Decordova-Reid, Loftus-Cheek, Lookman; Maja.

Striker Aleksandar Mitrovic is currently self-isolating having returned a positive coronavirus test.

Tom Cairney and Terence Kongolo remain long-term absentees, but Antonee Robinson will be vying to return to the starting 11 having surrendered his place on Sunday.

Captain Ben Mee suffered concussion against Palace and has been ruled out of this fixture as a “precaution”, according to manager Sean Dyche.

Chris Wood, Matej Vydra, Dale Stephens and Erik Pieters are all injury doubts, but Charlie Taylor should be able to feature.

Burnley have not lost any of their last 30 encounters with Fulham at Turf Moor, in any competition, winning 25 of those.

Fulham last won at the Lancashire ground in April 1951 and, should they fail to emerge from this match triumphant, it will be their longest ever run of matches without an away win against a single opponent.

The most recent encounter between the two sides took place in January, when Burnley won at Craven Cottage to secure themselves a place in the FA Cup fifth round.

Jay Rodriguez opened the scoring in the first half and doubled his tally from the spot on 71 minutes, before Kevin Long put the cherry on the cake in an effortless win for the Clarets.

To the eye of the observer, Fulham are a better team than the standings currently suggest, but the fact is they do find themselves in the thick of a fierce relegation battle and need to rack up significantly more points than at least one team above them from now until the end of the season.

The victory at Everton on Sunday night marked the arrival of a figure who could be key to Fulham’s push for survival; Josh Maja scored both of the goals at Goodison Park and will be hoping to carry that form onto Turf Moor.

Fulham currently sit 18th in the Premier League table.

Having struggled at the very beginning of the campaign, finding themselves bottom of the pile after just six games, Burnley soon managed to crawl out of the bottom three and now have a pretty good chance of securing five straight years in the top flight.

Their most recent outing saw the Clarets dispatch Crystal Palace on their own turf, with goals from Johann Gudmundsson, Jay Rodriguez and Matt Lowton earning a comfortable victory.

Burnley currently sit 16th in the Premier League table.

This match was originally scheduled to be played in early January, but a Covid-19 outbreak at Fulham’s Motspur Park training ground — as well as a busy mid-season fixture list for both — means these two sides share their first meeting of 2020/21 unusually late in the season.

It means the match bears even more significance now than the match might have done on its original date.

It’s 16th vs 18th, a huge match in the battle to avoid the Premier League drop, and a draw won’t do for either: victory for Burnley would generate some distance between them and the bottom three, while a win for their opponents would keep their survival aspirations very much alive.

Hello and welcome to VAVEL UK’s live text commentary of this Premier League fixture, Burnley vs Fulham. Stay tuned for a comprehensive preview followed by live updates from when the match kicks off at 18:00 GMT.