West Ham came from 1-0 down to beat Burnley 2-1 at Turf Moor, continuing the hosts' woeful record at home.
Despite the loss, the Clarets looked better for the most part, as the game contrasted what many pundits and fans expected from the matchup.
The Hammers were lucky to escape with the three points as they lacked any real opportunities other than the ones from which they scored from.
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Burnley are looking on the up
With Burnley having arguably their two most important games coming up, their standard is slowly coming together. The likes of Sander Berge and Johann Gudmundsson stepping up in the midfield and Zeki Amdouni up front fans are noticing the intensity increasing.
Lyle Foster is out for the foreseeable future and Amdouni has filled his boots excellently, despite Jay Rodriguez getting the goal, he continued to have chances and is sharp enough to create them for those around him. The wingers have started to look sharper with their being a massive shout for a penalty coming from Luca Koleosho.
The first goal was unlucky to concede and, on another day, it goes off Dara O’Shea’s knee and then goes out for a corner. The defending still looks a bit leaky for Burnley and is a point of action for Vincent Kompany’s men.
In the next week and a half, their season could be shaped for the better or the worse, with the manager being potentially let go if the situation continues the way it does.
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West Ham were lucky to get the three points but fought till the end
The majority of fans of both the Hammers and the Clarets would have felt that the game was over, however clearly the players did not think so themselves. A moment of magic from Mohammed Kudus led to both goals, which was the sole reason that they won the game.
The Ghana international was excellent to find the man, who was Soucek, at the back post for the second goal. It was also his play which led to the own goal. Before this game West Ham only had one win from five, thus this shows the character of the squad to keep fighting despite the potential low morale.
Both the fans and players will hope this will bolster their confidence and help improve their form for the next few fixtures, especially with a win securing their qualification in the Europa League.
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Charlie Taylor is not the answer at left back if Burnley wish to stay up
During the summer window, Burnley attempted to get several new left-backs, such as Ian Maatsen, who was on loan from Chelsea last season. All these attempts did not come to fruition. Therefore, left Kompany with Charlie Taylor to continue to fill the role, despite having a couple of good performances and even a goal, this game showed that he is not the answer.
Kudus comfortably beat him on multiple occasions and two of the occasions led to a goal. The defence is a weak point that needs to be worked on. With Hjalmar Ekdal on the bench, their best centre-back partnership should be back soon. However, there is evidence that the left-back spot is weak. The fans are vocal on social media that they do wish that in the January window it is strengthened.
Despite missing their top goal scorer of the season, they still found the goals, even with them both coming late on. With Bowen missing this game, West Ham’s fans will have had doubts in their minds if the goals would still come.
Throughout the game, there was a real lack of chances, and they did not seem in it for the most part, however, the moment of magic was there when they needed it most.
Fans will be happy that the goals can still come however, will be hoping that they do not have to rely on moments for the goals to arrive, especially towards the end of the games. The creativity still needs to be prevalent for the wins to be convincing, which will be needed against those towards the bottom half of the league.
