Match report
That’s it from me. Permission to switch over to City-Liverpool: you can follow that game here with Daniel Harris. Thanks for your company, correspondence and gallows humour.
So the bottom of the table looks like this.
17 Everton 30 games, 28 points
18 Burnley 30 games, 24 points
19 Watford 31 games, 22 points
20 Norwich 31 games, 21 points
And Burnley’s goal difference, which was the best of the bunch on -17, now joins Everton’s on -19. Watford are on -31, Norwich a seriously impressive -43.
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Look away now if you don’t want to know what happened in the other 2pm kick-offs. After all those away wins this time yesterday, we’ve had three home wins. Brentford have beaten West Ham 2-0, maintaining their revival, and Leicester have hung on to win 2-1 against Palace in the Battle for Ninth and Tenth.
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Full time! Norwich 2-0 Burnley
That’s it! Norwich stay alive with their first win in nine games. Burnley, after going up a ladder in midweek, slide down a snake, back to their inability to score.
And the real winner is ... Frank Lampard, who has had the weekend of his dreams.
90+4 min Chance! Cornet tees up Brownhill, whose sharp low shot is pushed round the post by Krul.
90+2 min The ball lands on the roof of the Norwich net, without ever looking as if it was going in.
Alan Smith picks his man of the match and it’s Ben Gibson in the Norwich defence. I have a nasty feeling I haven’t mentioned him once. They also serve who elude the MBM.
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90 min Burnley have five minutes to save their season.
89 min Pukki goes off to a great ovation. On comes Christos Tzolis, a young Greek bearing a fearsome haircut.
88 min That was Norwich’s tenth shot of this half, to Burnley’s five. They’ve earned the three points.
GOAL! Norwich 2-0 Burnley (Pukki 86)
The clincher! Burnley’s defence, usually so organised, parts like the Red Sea, leaving Pukki in loads of space. He finishes clinically.
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84 min Another Norwich sub: Brandon Williams, on loan from Man United, on for Giannoulis. And one for Burnley too: Ashley Barnes for Jay Rodriguez. A final throw of the Dyche.
83 min A Burnley attack peters out because of a badly overhit cross.
A tweet! From someone called The Flying Pasty. It goes like this, in full: “I scream Cornet.”
79 min Close! At the other end. Rashica leads a breakaway, has support, doesn’t use it, hits a decent shot but Krul manages to parry it.
79 min Close! Hanley flicks on Pukki’s chip and shaves the top of the woodwork.
78 min Pukki plays a lovely nutmeg and then gets fouled by Charlie Taylor – given as a free kick by Michael Oliver, but was it just inside the box? No, a foot outside.
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75 min Burnley’s turn to attack without achieving much. Cornet is back on, happily. A caption says that Norwich have conceded 16 late goals this season (after 76 mins), so there is one table they are top of.
“God speaks,” says Mary Waltz. “I will claim divine intervention on that Cornet miss.”
73 min Cornet gets up, thankfully, but goes off. As play resumes, Norwich make it into the Burnley box without mustering a shot.
71 min It’s Burnley’s turn to have two men down because they’ve clashed heads – Rodriguez, who is a target man, and Cornet, who isn’t but perhaps wanted to atone for his miss. There’s a delay while they both get some attention. Rodriguez seems OK, Cornet less so.
68 min Time for a Norwich sub: Lukas Rupp comes on and Lees-Melou goes off, for fear of a red. He gets a big hand, just deserts for his goal.
67 min Replays suggest that Cornet missed it because he shinned it. Taylor has a header, and then Norwich storm up the other end, where Pukki shoots wide. Suddenly this game has taken up where it left off at half-time.
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66 min Big miss! McNeil’s first action is a superb curling cross for Cornet, who misses a half-open goal.
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65 min Sean Dyche shuffles the pack again: Lennon off, McNeil on. Lennon was half the player today that he was on Wednesday night.
63 min Both Burnley full-backs overlap in the same move, Lowton chipping in with a cross, Taylor with a dribble. But Burnley have still had only one shot in this half, to Norwich’s five. They have half an hour to save their season.
61 min Pope, coming out to clear a through ball, kicks it about three yards, but he’s spared the death of a thousand replays when the loose ball refuses to fall to a pair of Norwich feet.
60 min Lees-Melou, already on a yellow, fouls Taylor, right in front of the ref. He must be on an orange now.
58 min Two players collide going for a header, and they’re both in yellow – Hanley and Byram. They’re back on their feet soon enough.
57 min A sub! Weghorst, who seems to be in pain, gives way to Vydra.
56 min Norwich take a corner and try to save time by sending to straight to Lees-Melou in the D, but his shot is nothing like as good as the one that may decide this match.
54 min Burnley get away with a blunder as Brownhill’s pass goes straight to a yellow shirt in midfield. Pukki’s shot is just delayed enough to allow a block.
52 min Burnley make their presence felt as Cornet wins a free kick. It lands on the head of Rodriguez, but he can’t keep it down.
“Take it from this Norwich fan and veteran of many village discos Tim,” says Rod Wooden, “Gilmour’s absence from our line up is a real positive. I have no idea why Smith keeps playing him. He’s very lightweight and I can’t see him getting into the team once he goes back to Chesea. Strange thing is, he seems to play well for Scotland, but for us he’s a dead loss.”
50 min A minute of nothing much, for once. “Recovering from my Everton win over United hangover,” says Mary Waltz, “I wasn’t expecting much help from the Canaries. But both teams are playing far above their form. Who cares about Liverpool-City, hang on you lovely birds.”
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49 min Rashica has a go from distance, with swerve and dip but not the right direction – straight at Pope.
48 min Norwich get into the Burnley box but this time they’re taking the aerial route, which is just where Tarkowski and Co. like it.
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46 min We have a killer stat for you, or rather Sky do: this is only the second time in ten years that Burnley have had more than 50pc possession in the first half of a Premier League game. They managed it once before against West Brom.
“You are right.” says Kári Tulinius, “about how good Pukki is at finding space. I imagine no Norwich fan wants to hear it, but having seen a lot of him through the years with Norwich and Finland, he could surely do a job with a team higher up the table. He seems to like it in Norfolk, however. Enjoy the match!” Thanks, I am.
Half-time! Norwich 1-0 Burnley
Norwich manage to get upfield for the final scene of a pulsating 47 minutes. It’s been a half of two games: a desperation derby, full of blocks and bravery, but also, impressively, a flowing football match.
We’ve had 16 shots (10-6 to Burnley), nine corners (5-4 to Burnley), no clear-cut chances and one goal (1-0 to Norwich). Time for a cup of tea.
45 min Another minute, another free kick to Burnley. Pope takes it, near the halfway line, and Norwich deal with it at the second attempt. There will be two added mins.
43 min Yet another corner to Burnley. It comes out to Westwood, who hits one of the sweetest volleys you’ll ever see, but it’s blocked by some brave person. And then another corner, another shot from the D, and another body in the way.
41 min Yet another free kick to Burnley, fairly central. Brownhill takes it, rather than Cornet, and it ends up in Row Z.
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40 min One reason to believe for Burnley is that they keep winning free kicks. Byram hands them a freebie by pulling Cornet’s shirt, but Norwich see off the danger, twice, with diligent defending.
37 min Burnley came back from the dead on a wet Wednesday night at Turf Moor. But can they do it on a sunny Sunday in Norwich? They look as if they have one goal in them, not so sure about two.
“Speaking of kits and designs,” says Ezra Finkelstein, “I wonder what you think is the best effort in the Premier League this year? In my humble opinion Crystal Palace have a lovely shirt.” Personally I like it when the designers get away from the colour scheme of the soft-play area, while still showing some awareness of the club’s traditions. The slate is never blank.
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33 min Off we go to the other end, where Cornet has a shot blocked. He’s such a natural – he’s like the one person at the village disco who can dance.
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32 min More pressure from Norwich, with two crosses – one either side, neither much good.
30 min The half-hour mark arrives with Norwich, for once, having a spell up the other end. They win a corner on the left, take it short and soon regret it. Are short corners ever a good idea? Maybe against Burnley.
29 min This kit of Burnley’s is not just a pretty design – it’s raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society.
27 min Lees-Melou picks up a yellow card to go with his goal, for treading on Tarkowski’s toes.
25 min In between Pukki’s sorties, Burnley are pinning Norwich back. Cornet runs onto a through ball and shoots, too close to Krul.
23 min Pukki again, feeding Rashica, who can’t quite manage the return ball. “The Kosovan and the Finn,” says the commentator. They’re a children’s book waiting to happen, but perhaps only if they pull off the great escape.
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21 min Pukki should really be an estate agent – he’s so good at finding space. Jinking around the D, he gets another shot away, but Burnley do what Burnley gotta do: they put in a block.
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20 min We’ve already had eight shots and five corners. It’s as if the game has begun with the last 20 minutes.
17 min Shot! Pukki’s in acres on the right and he strokes a pinpoint shot that would go in at the far post if it were not for Pope, sticking out a boot. Shot again! Norwich stay up that end and Normann hits a swerver just over the bar.
15 min The two sets of fans, like the kits, are a study in contrasts. One lot are singing “C’mon Burnley” over and over again, while the other specialise in oohs and aahs.
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13 min You know how some matches take 20 minutes to get going? This is not one of them. Now Burnley have a free kick in a dangerous area and Collins’s downward header brushes the woodwork, but he’s offside.
12 min And now Burnley have a corner. Krul is a bit shaky underneath it, but gets away with it.
“Rooting for the Canaries,” says Joe Pearson, our person in Indianapolis. “And not just because I put money on Burnley getting relegated all the way back in August. OK, maybe that is the reason.”
GOAL! Norwich 1-0 Burnley (Lees-Melou 9)
The corner comes out to the D... and this time Pierre Lees-Melou does pounce! His shot takes a deflection and lands in the corner.
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9 min Both teams are being positive, and Burnley are now getting more of the ball, but Norwich go on the counter and win a corner.
6 min And now an attempt from Burnley! Cornet crosses to Rodriguez, who gets the header in, though it’s not powerful enough to test Krul.
4 min Shot! Again it’s Pukki finding Rashica, who cuts in from the left and hits a rasping drive, parried by Pope. Lees-Melou could have done more to pounce on the rebound.
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4 min Burnley get a cross in, the first of many. Hanley heads it away.
3 min Norwich start purposefully as Pukki plays a Harry Kane ball, with Rashica in the role of Son. Pope comes out smartly to clear.
2 min Man down! It’s Kenny McLean, who went up for a header with James Tarkowski. He seems OK.
The players take the knee. Norwich are in yellow as usual, Burnley inter third kit – navy blue.
A tweet! “You appear to be journalist that doesn’t understand probability,” says Harry Palmer. “Compare the goal difference to understand why Burnley are statistically more likely to beat Norwich then City beat Liverpool.”
I wasn’t saying 538 were wrong! Just thought it was interesting.
Sean Dyche is a bit more forthcoming. Asked what he took away from the win over Everton, he says: “Going into the final third looking like an outfit that can score goals – we haven’t had that all season but we did the other night.” Has Everton’s win over Man United had an impact on his team? “No, we’ve got a pretty wise group. We can’t look at other teams’ form, that’s up to them. It’s about focusing on what we do. As it narrows down, we’ve got to get wins.”
A pretty wise group: that’s how Dyche does it.
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Dean Smith is talking to Sky, but he’s not giving a great deal away. “It’s another team in the bottom three,” he says, “so we have to go out and give our fans something to cheer about.” Asked what sort of game he expects, he says Burnley will be “very competitive”.
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Of the eight clubs playing today in the Premier League, which is the most likely one to win? According to 538.com, it’s Burnley! With 46 per cent, to Norwich’s 26 (draw 28). They’re just ahead of Man City with 44pc (to Liverpool’s 31). City have 23 league wins this season while Burnley have four.
The ref, in case you’ve been wondering, will be Michael Oliver.
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Teams: Burnley
Burnley are on what passes for a roll at the bottom of the Premier League, so they stick with a winning team – apart from Connor Roberts, whose slot at right-back goes to Matt Lowton. There’s still no room for Dwight McNeil, though I suspect he’ll soon be warming up.
Burnley (4-4-2) Pope; Lowton, Collins, Tarkowski, Taylor; Lennon, Westwood, Brownhill, Cornet; Weghorst, Rodriguez.
Subs: Hennessey, Long, Roberts, Thomas, Stephens, McNeil, Cork, Barnes, Vydra.
Teams: Norwich
No Billy Gilmour for Norwich, who may be playing a midfield diamond and giving Burnley a dose of their own medicine with twin strikers.
Norwich (4-D-2?) Krul; Byram, Hanley, Gibson, Giannoulis; Normann, Dowell, Lees-Melou, McLean; Pukki, Rashica.
Subs: Gunn, Aarons, Williams, Sorensen, Tzolis, Rowe, Springett, Zimmermann, Rupp.
Preamble
Afternoon everyone and welcome to the biggest game of ... the next three hours. It may not be quite City-Liverpool, but Norwich-Burnley still gets a high score on a metric that is crying out to be turned into three dimensions by the people behind Wallace & Gromit – the Squeaky Bum-o-Meter.
Burnley badly need three points to keep up with Everton, who sprang a surprise by actually winning a game yesterday. Norwich need three points even more than that: they’re going down unless they go on a glorious run right now, and although they have a winnable game next week – against Ralf Rangnick’s Also-Rans – that one is away, while this is at home.
Both these clubs have spent the past eight months collecting just four league wins. The difference between them is all in the draws: six to Norwich so far, 12 to Burnley. Dean Smith could reasonably claim that his side play the better football, but Sean Dyche has the edge on experience and pragmatism. The other night, against Everton, the football was suddenly decent too, with Maxwel Cornet finding his silver hammer.
It could be a cracker. Kick-off is at 2pm, and I’ll be back soon after 1 with the teams.
