Chelsea vs Burnley 31st January 2021

 

Tuchel clinches first win as Chelsea boss as goals from Spanish internationals end Burnley’s three-game unbeaten run

Chelsea earned their first win under Thomas Tuchel on Sunday defeating Burnley 2-0 at home to move up to 7^th in the table.

Burnley went into the game looking to achieve three league wins in a row for the first time since April 2019, but Chelsea had other ideas and scored first through their captain Cezar Azpilicueta.

The full-back made an overlapping run beyond Callum Hudson-Odoi who set up Azpilicueta and he put the ball in the top left corner of the net to send Chelsea into the break with the lead.

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His goal was the first of the Tuchel era after the German replaced Frank Lampard on Tuesday evening but could only manage a 0-0 draw in his first game against Wolves on Wednesday night.

Hudson-Odoi then saw his effort rattle off the post 12 minutes after the interval as Chelsea pushed for a second goal.

Burnley’s problems were intensified when Chris Wood went down with half an hour to go and had to be replaced by Johann Berg Gudmundsson. This meant that Jay Rodriguez, who had just replaced Matej Vydra had to play most of the second half as a lone striker.

Hudson-Odoi impressed throughout the game and had another chance on 68 minutes when his shot almost deflected past Nick Pope off the boot of Ben Mee. This was to be the 20-year-olds last act of the game after he was replaced by defender Reece James with 18 minutes to go.

James nearly got on the scoresheet just two minutes after his introduction when he blasted a shot towards goal from just inside the area, but Pope stood strong to keep the ball out with his feet.  

Christian Pulisic’s attempt had drifted just wide of the post four minutes before this opportunity and Chelsea looked as if they weren’t content with just the one goal.

Sean Dyche handed a Premier League debut to Joel Mumbongo when he was subbed on for Robbie Brady and Burnley went two up top for the final 15 minutes.

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The Clarets were unable to penetrate Chelsea’s defence and Marcus Alonso put the game to bed when he controlled Pulisic’s pass in the box to flick the ball up and volley it past Pope with 7 minutes remaining.

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Alonso was starting his first game since September and certainly put pressure on first-choice left-back Ben Chilwell with this goal.

Chelsea go into Thursday’s London derby against Tottenham having earned four points from the six available under Tuchel. The Blues will be looking to get one over their old manager Jose Mourinho and climb above Spurs with a win in the 8 o’clock kick-off.

Burnley failed to register a shot on target after starting the game promisingly. Wood’s injury will be a concern to Sean Dyche as they could potentially head into Wednesday’s home game against Man City with just two senior strikers available.

Sources

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/01/29/chelsea-vs-burnley---the-stats

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/12201588/chelsea-vs-burnley-preview-team-news-prediction-stats-kick-off-time                      

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55769201

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55769201

Football’s continuity problem 30th January 2021

 

Football’s continuity problem

Chelsea legend Frank Lampard became the latest high-profile manager to depart the Premier League in recent years, after being relieved of his duties as Chelsea boss on Monday. Former PSG coach Thomas Tuchel took the reins just 24 hours later as Chelsea’s managerial merry-go-round continues.

Lampard became the 10^th man to be sacked by Chelsea’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich in his 17-and-a-half-year tenure at the club. This figure is in stark contrast to Chelsea’s opponents on Sunday with Sean Dyche being in the Burnley hot-seat for 8 and a half years making him the longest-serving manager in the Premier League.

Dyche’s longevity makes him somewhat of a statistical anomaly amongst his fellow bosses, as according to an article by SQAF in 2019 the average lifespan of a manager in England’s top division is just 789 days. Which poses the question why does football have a continuity problem?

Below we look at five reasons as to why managers are no longer given time to turn things around at their clubs:

1.      Revenue- Since the birth of the Premier league in 1992 English football has become a global force. The Premier league pulls in an average global audience of 4.7 billion according to SPORT+MARKT and therefore attracts billionaire investors looking to pump their cash into our football clubs and in return they want to see results. In Chelsea’s case Lampard had lost five of his last eight league games, leaving The Blues in 9^th  position 5 points off the Champions League places at the time of his departure.

 

For a man of Abramovich’s wealth success is of paramount importance and this means winning trophies, hence the sticking plaster strategy he has adopted throughout his time at The Bridge. In the most part this has worked for the 54-year-old who has overseen five league title wins and a Champions League triumph in his period as owner.

 

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However, after Maurizio Sarri left to take over at Juventus in 2019, Abramovich appeared to adopt a new approach. In appointing Lampard, he immediately had the backing of the supporters with many fans expressing that they were able to identify with the blend of youth and experience that Lampard was establishing within the side. Everything started pretty rosily for ‘Super Frank’ as he managed to steer the club to the Champions League spots at the first time of asking. One area of potential weakness that was identified though was their inconsistent nature.

 

Under Lampard’s stewardship, Chelsea had a habit of rattling off five wins in a row before losing three on the bounce. Abramovich attempted to rectify this by splashing out £222 million on reinforcements in the summer transfer window.

 

As of yet, Chelsea have been unable to reap the rewards of this investment on the pitch with £90 million record signing Kai Havertz struggling to adapt to life in the Premier League. His fellow German international Timo Werner has also failed to hit the ground running in a Chelsea shirt this season after he was brought in for £50 million in the summer.

 

This caused Abramovich to lose patience and things came to a head when Chelsea were handed a 2-0 defeat at Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester on the 19^th of January. Behind the scenes the Chelsea hierarchy began the search for Lampard’s successor with the 42-year-old seemingly being given a farewell fixture bowing out with a 3-1 victory against Luton the following weekend. Chelsea’s record goalscorer spent a total of 18 months in charge which was the fifth-longest reign of any Chelsea manager appointed by the Russian, putting into context the need for instant results in today’s game and that pressure will always be intensified when the cheque book comes out.

 

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2.      Social media- Social media now plays a huge part in football, football fans now have a platform to showcase their understanding of the beautiful game and their words can often carry meaning. Rallying cries calling for the manager’s head can be trending on Twitter within minutes and that can eventually lead to a toxic atmosphere within a fan base which ultimately never ends well for the person in charge.

 

Anyone can now essentially become a journalist and if enough people listen to what they are saying then that can spell bad news for the manager of their football club.

Fan channels are a perfect example of this new way of producing content by breaking the mould to attract huge numbers on platforms such as YouTube by allowing supporters to connect with the ordinary fan’s opinion. The flipside of this is that when the team hit a bad run of form a debate is often sparked about whether it is time for a change in the dugout.

 

 

3.      Player Power- Gone are the days of Sir Alex Ferguson’s infamous hairdryer treatment, players have more of a say in the direction of their careers and sometimes that can include what manager they play for. If a player disagrees on tactics, formations or feel that they aren’t getting enough game time they can on occasions prove to be a difficult conundrum for their boss to solve.

 

All it takes is for the manager to put a couple of player’s noses out of place and they have ’lost the dressing room’. In the fast-paced world that football has become it is vital for everyone to be on the same page otherwise the manager will be gone before they have even got their feet under the table.

 

 

4.      Philosophy- The word philosophy has become extremely prominent in football over the past few years, particularly since Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp arrived in England. Fans and owners alike now have a view of what the ‘modern game’ should look like, and if that doesn’t involve 300 passes before going for goal then the manager is often questioned even if they are getting results. Sam Allardyce is a prime example of someone whose style of play falls under the newly spawned ‘anti-football phrase’.

 

But if you actually look into his career, ‘Big Sam’ has achieved his objectives at more or less every club he has been at and has never suffered relegation from the top-flight as a manager. From the outside looking in the Dudley born man appears to have a one-dimensional way of operating, but this doesn’t tell the whole story. He is someone who champions the use of sports science and psychology to help get the best out of the players at his disposal.

 

These methods first came to fruition when he guided Bolton to the Premier League in his first full season, then going on to secure safety and qualify for the Europa league in the subsequent years that followed. Allardyce also began to use analytics when preparing for games and used this tool to help him identify new players.

His software of choice was an emerging stats-based company called Prozone. Prozone allows football clubs to use data to analyse a variety of areas such as opposition’s strengths and weaknesses, individual player statistics and hidden gems within the transfer market. Allardyce was one of the first Englishmen to incorporate Prozone into his coaching methods and he gained plaudits for his innovative ways.

As time moved on though the football world developed an urge to be entertained as well as getting the three points. Sam found this out at West Ham in 2015 when Hammers fans grew tired of the style of play citing a desire to go back to the ‘West Ham Way’. This didn’t match up with the long ball football they had become accustomed to under Allardyce and so he was shown the door.

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5.      Ego’s - Ever heard of the phrase too many cooks spoil the broth? Well this can certainly prove to be the case in football. There have been many instances where owners have let their egos get in the way of decision-making and the individual leading the team has bore the brunt of that decision.

 

Massimo Cellino took over as owner of Leeds in 2014 and his first action was to remove Brian McDermott from his job. Only for him to be reinstated within days when it came to light that Cellino didn’t have ownership of the club yet. Businessmen sometimes view football clubs as toys rather than a long-term project and this is a dangerous combination when trying to build a sustainable football club and can result in a lack of direction.

 

And so that brings an end to why football has a problem with continuity. What are your thoughts? Do you think managers should be given more time or is an instant impact what you are looking for?

Sources

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/about-chelsea/history/trophy-cabinet

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9187631/Frank-Lampard-fifth-longest-serving-Chelsea-manager-Roman-Abramovich.html

https://www.thesackrace.com/news/26th-january-2021/how-much-has-roman-abramovich-spent-on-sacking-chelsea-managers#:~:text=Frank%20Lampard's%20exit%20on%20Monday,he%20took%20the%20Juventus%20job.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/chelsea/frank-lampard-sacked-statement-roman-abramovich-b1792189.html

https://www.premierleague.com/clubs/4/Chelsea/results

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55794158#:~:text=Chelsea%20have%20sacked%20manager%20Frank,their%20past%20five%20league%20matches.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55627849

Burnley vs Aston Villa 27th January 2021

Wood grabs winner at Turf Moor as Burnley mount second-half comeback to go three games unbeaten

A trio of second-half goals saw Sean Dyche’s Burnley come from behind to beat Aston Villa 3-2 at home and continue their good run of form.

Burnley were full of confidence coming into the game after thrashing Fulham 3-0 on Sunday. However, it was Villa who had the better of the early stages and they took the lead through Ollie Watkins 14 minutes in.

Matt Targett drilled a ball across the box and Watkins got in front of Ben Mee to stab the ball in the opposite corner. Dean Smith’s striker has been in good form recently, scoring in his last outing against Newcastle and his goal against Burnley was his 10^th  of the season.

The away side nearly doubled their lead on a number of occasions before half-time first through Ross Barkley, whose volley bounced off the bar after Watkins was denied a second goal by Pope. Tyrone Mings then had his shot saved by the Burnley goalkeeper in the penalty area to prevent the men from the Midlands from scoring a second before the half-time whistle.

Burnley were able to find a goal of their own six minutes after the break through their centre back Mee when he headed in his 2^nd goal of the season on his 179^th Premier League appearance.

Ashley Westwood aimed his corner towards the far post and the Burnley skipper got above Ezri Konsa to place his header in the top left corner of the net.

The Clarets confidence grew from this goal and they almost scored another 14 minutes later. Eric Pieters had the ball at his feet in the box and the former Dutch international pulled it back to Chris Wood who hit a first-time shot but he was unable to direct it past Emiliano Martinez.

Jack Grealish was to make Burnley pay for this missed opportunity when he put his side back in front on 68 minutes. After picking the ball up 25 yards from goal the Villa captain combined with Douglas Luiz to create room in the box and tap the ball into the gaping goal.

Dyche’s men pulled together though and responded within seven minutes in the form of a Dwight McNeil goal. McNeil appeared to send in a low driven cross but the ball bypassed everyone and made its way into the bottom corner.

The England under 21 international was to be involved in the final goal of the game as he got the assist to end Wood’s 6 game goal drought. Wood got on the end of McNeil’s cross to squeeze his header inbetween the post with 11 minutes to play. The Burnley forward loves pitting his wits against The Villains having now notched in four of his last five league starts against them.

Burnley are finding the back of the net at the minute scoring three goals for the second game in a row and the win sees them move to 15^th on 22 points. More importantly they have also opened up a nine-point gap between themselves and 18^th placed Fulham ahead of Sunday’s trip to Stamford Bridge to face Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea, after the German replaced the outgoing Frank Lampard on Tuesday evening.

Villa drop one place to 10^th on 29 points and have a trip to the South Coast on Saturday as they come up against Ralph Hasenhüttl’s Southampton looking to go above Arsenal with a victory.

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Sources

https://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=74516

https://www.whoscored.com/Players/73380/Show/Chris-Wood

https://www.premierleague.com/players/3909/Ben-Mee/overview  

https://www.premierleague.com/tables

https://www.premierleague.com/news/1979291

Fulham vs Burnley 24th January 2021

 

Rodriguez at the double as Clarets put 3 past Fulham to go through to 5^th round of FA Cup

Burnley made a host of changes for their trip to Craven Cottage with just Dwight McNeil and James Tarkowski retaining their places from Thursdays win over Liverpool.

Despite this, it was The Clarets who started the brighter of the two sides and they thought that they should have had a penalty 7 minutes into the game.

McNeil sent in a cross which appeared to hit Fulham’s Michael Hector on the arm, but the referee waved away these appeals and Burnley continued to knock-on The Cottagers door.

That door was firmly smashed open by Jay Rodriguez who scored his first goal in 19 games to give Burnley the lead on 31 minutes.

Rodriguez had the ball at his feet and played it wide to Jack Cork who curled the ball towards the centre of the box. Burnley’s number 19 then finished off the move by heading the ball across goal and into the back of the net.

Scott Parker must have had words with his side at half-time as they came out with more energy in the second half and nearly equalised through Joe Bryan four minutes after the break.

The former Bristol City man found space on the edge of the area and hit a shot towards goal which Bailey Peacock-Farrell just about got a hand to preventing Bryan from levelling the scores.

Peacock-Farrell was back in the cup squad after missing the MK Dons tie due to Covid-19 protocols.

Burnley born Rodriguez looked keen to add to his tally throughout the second half and did so when Matej Vydra was fouled in the penalty area with 20 minutes to go.

The 31-year-old has fond memories of playing against Fulham having registered his first senior goal against them at Turf Moor in 2008 to book Burnley’s place in the fourth round of the league cup.

But on this occasion, he wasn’t prepared to stop at just the one goal, blasting the ball down the middle to give Marek Rodak no chance and Burnley now had a comfortable lead.

The striker let out a huge roar in his celebration with the goal clearly meaning a lot to him and both he and Vydra have certainly asked Dyche the question about whether they should be starting against Aston Villa.

Peacock-Farrell was called upon again with 13 minutes remaining as he came off his line to keep out Aboubakar Kamara. The ball went beyond the goalkeeper after his initial save but Tarkowski got there just in time to stop it from trickling over the line.

Kevin Long was partnering Tarkowski at the back and he got in on the action by adding a third goal for Burnley with nine minutes left to play, meaning Fulham were now out of sight.

Johann Berg Gudmundsson hooked a cross towards the back post which found its way onto the chest of Rodriguez. He then flicked it into the path of Long who scored his first goal since 2018 to round off a superb afternoon for Dyche’s men.

Fulham now have just 1 win from the last 10 games and sit 18^th in the Premier League table. Premier League survival remains the priority for Parker’s team and they face Brighton up next with a game in hand against The Seagulls.

The victory sees Burnley head into the 5^th round for the first time in four years as they face the winners of Bournemouth vs Crawley.

The Clarets will be hoping to go one step further this time around having fallen foul of a cup upset at this stage 4 years ago when they were beaten by then non-league Lincoln City.

Sources

https://www.skysports.com/fulham-results

https://www.the42.ie/kevin-long-burnley-ireland-goal-burton-albion-carabao-cup-efl-cup-third-round-4254062-Sep2018/

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/11/liverpool-burnley-premier-league-match-report

https://www.premierleague.com/players/3851/Jay-Rodriguez/overview

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Liverpool vs Burnley 21st January 2021

 

Historic night for The Clarets as Barnes scores 100th senior goal to end Liverpool’s near four-year dominance at Anfield

Burnley made history on Thursday night as they inflicted Liverpool’s first defeat at Anfield in the league since April 2017 ending a run of 68 games unbeaten at home courtesy of Ashley Barnes’s second-half penalty.

Barnes nearly opened the scoring on 13 minutes as he controlled Chris Woods knockdown, which left Allison in a heap on the ground. This meant that Barnes had a free shot at goal but the goalkeeper was able to swiftly recover and keep his shot out.

Captain Ben Mee then left Burnley fans with their hearts in their mouths as he miskicked a backpass to Nick Pope which sent Divock Origi through on goal with 43 minutes gone. Origi only had the keeper to beat but his shot clattered off the underside of the bar and rebounded into the arms of Pope.

Tempers flared on the half-time whistle as both sets of players were involved in a melee when Fabinho made contact with the back of Barnes’s leg in the final act of the half.

Mike Dean issued the Brazilian with a yellow card, but his decision was overturned by VAR and order was quickly restored on the pitch.

However, Sean Dyche and Jurgen Klopp continued the verbal’s as they exchanged heated words in the tunnel. Dyche played down the incident in his post-match interview with Sky Sports declaring that “It was just two managers fighting for their teams, wanting to win a game”.

Burnley defended valiantly in the second half as they attempted to keep Liverpool at bay. The Clarets had their goalkeeper to thank as Pope was in fine form and pulled off a superb save from Mohamed Salah with half an hour to play.

Georginio Wijnaldum bypassed Burnley’s midfield and played in Salah who shot towards Pope’s near post, but the England goalkeeper was able to get down low and get a strong hand to the ball to keep the score at 0-0.

His efforts were then rewarded as Burnley took the lead with seven minutes to go. Fabinho cleared the ball out of the box but only as far as Matt Lowton who headed the ball into the path of Barnes and he hooked the ball over Allison. Allison then clipped Barnes as he tried to get to the ball and the referee immediately pointed to the spot and Burnley had a chance to go in front.

Barnes stepped up to take the penalty which he curled into the bottom right corner to put Burnley ahead and score his 100^th senior goal.

Despite Liverpool’s best efforts, they were unable to find an equaliser and Burnley secured their first victory at Anfield in 46 years to go seven points clear of the drop zone.

Liverpool have now scored just once in five league games since defeating Crystal Palace 7-0 in December and remain six points behind league leaders Manchester United. Klopp’s men face United for the second time in a week as both sides meet in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Sunday evening.

The Clarets are also in action in the FA Cup on Sunday against Scott Parker’s Fulham at Turf Moor as they look to set up a fifth-round tie with the winners of Bournemouth vs Crawley.

Sources

https://twitter.com/SkySportsStatto/status/1352371329329205249

https://www.premierleague.com/clubs/10/Liverpool/results

https://www.premierleague.com/tables

West Ham vs Burnley 16th January 2021

 

West Ham vs Burnley 16th January 2021

Clarets trip to the capital ends in defeat as Antonio scores only goal of the game to put West Ham three points off Champions League places

It was back-to-back defeats for Sean Dyche and his team as they were defeated 1-0 at the London Stadium by David Moyes’s West Ham.

Burnley had won the last three fixtures between the two sides but this time it was West Ham who came out on top.

A lack of communication between Ben Mee and James Tarkowski led to The Clarets conceding in the opening nine minutes. Pablo Fornals sent a cross towards the back post and the centre back pairing failed to pick up Michail Antonio who tapped the ball past Nick Pope.

Angelo Ogbonna nearly put them 2-0 ahead 10 minutes before half-time when he headed the ball onto the post from Jarrod Bowen’s corner.

Chris Wood then had a chance two minutes later, but he fired just wide of the post from the edge of the box and that was Burnley’s only real chance of the afternoon.

The current form of the strikeforce has been a talking point amongst the fans in recent weeks, with many clamouring for Jay Rodriguez and Matěj Vydra to lead the line from the start.

Both men were brought on in the second half along with Dwight McNeil and Burnley began to look brighter but were unable to forge a way through West Ham’s defence.

The Hammers saw out the remainder of the game as Moyes claimed his first victory against Dyche at the 7^th attempt. His side climb one place in the table to 9^th and come up against Sam Allardyce’s West Brom side tomorrow night.

Burnley drop one place to 17^th and face a tough visit to Anfield on Thursday evening.

Former chairman turned board member Mike Garlick was in attendance for the defeat, with the current hierarchy self-isolating after contracting COVID-19. ALK and their team will be looking to provide financial support to Dyche this month with a right-back seemingly top of his priority list.

Everton’s Jonjoe Kenny has been heavily linked with a move to Turf Moor having impressed on loan at Schalke last season. The 23-year-old may prove to be an astute signing for Burnley if they were able to acquire his services before deadline day.

The Clarets have scored just nine goals this season which is the joint lowest in the country along with Sheffield United.

If the goals continue to prove hard to come by then Dyche may also look to strengthen in the striking department as they head into the second half of the season.

 

Burnley vs Manchester United 12th January 2021

Burnley vs Manchester United 12th January 2021

Paul Pogba’s spectacular volley sends Solskjaer’s United top of the tree with victory at Turf Moor

Burnley were unable to repeat their heroics of last season as they were defeated 1-0 at home to Man United. Paul Pogba scored the only goal to send Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s men top of the table for the first time since 2017.

The Clarets started the game with real intent pressing United from the off and Chris Wood had their first attempt on 21 minutes. Wood combined with Ashley Barnes on the edge of the box to fire a shot towards goal which deflected off Eric Bailly and went behind for a corner.

VAR controversy then ensued seven minutes later when Johann Berg Gudmundsson went down as a result of a challenge from Luke Shaw. Referee Kevin Friend waved play on and Bruno Fernandes sent a ball towards the onrushing Edison Cavani.

Ben Mee misjudged the flight of the ball which left Robbie Brady with no option but to bring down Cavani just outside the box. The referee then went over to the VAR monitor to decide whether he should send the Irishman off.

After a five-minute delay Friend reversed Brady’s yellow card, and instead pulled the play back for a freekick to Burnley and yellow carded Shaw for his earlier foul on Gudmundsson.

Both managers would have been happy with this decision with Shaw lucky to escape a red card for the challenge, and without VAR’s intervention, it is highly likely that Brady would have also been sent off.

Harry Maguire thought he had given his side the lead on 36 minutes when he got above Eric Pieters at the back post to head the ball in the net. However, his contact with Pieter’s was deemed to be a foul and the goal was ruled out much to his dismay.

United eventually broke down Burnley’s resistance after the break as Paul Pogba put them in front with 20 minutes to go.

Marcus Rashford teed up Pogba with a cross towards the edge of the box which the Frenchman volleyed towards goal and the ball hit Matt Lowton’s outstretched leg on its way past Nick Pope.

Sean Dyche made use of all three substitutions in the second half by bringing on Mateg Vydra, Jay Rodriguez and Dwight McNeil as The Clarets attempted to rescue a point. Vydra had a chance to level the scores in added time but he couldn’t quite connect with his volley in the box and the game ended 1-0 to United.

The Red Devils head into Sunday’s game with Liverpool looking to extend their lead at the top to 6 points as they bid to win their first Premier League title since 2013.

As for Burnley, they travel to the London Stadium to face David Moyes’s West Ham United who are coming off a win against Stockport in the FA Cup on Monday evening.

Burnley vs MK Dons 9th January 2021

 

Phil Bardsley bags winning spot kick as Burnley secure penalty shootout victory against MK dons at Turf Moor.

Burnley left it late to scrape through on penalties against league one MK dons and progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The two sides last met almost 4 years to the day when Burnley ran out 5-0 winners in the championship. However, on this occasion, the away side proved to be a much tougher match for the Premier League outfit.

Ashley Barnes had the first real chance of the game when he capitalised on Dean Lewington’s poor touch to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper in the opening two minutes.

But perhaps Barnes had too much time to think about the chance, as he chose to try and take the ball round Lee Nicholls who got a touch to the ball and it went behind for a corner.

The 31-year-old had another golden chance 13 minutes later when he found himself unmarked at the back post but was unable to squeeze his volley past Nicholls who pulled off an acrobatic save to keep the score at 0-0.

Despite Burnley’s early efforts on goal, it was Russell Martin’s side who took the lead through former Birmingham and Norwich striker Cameron Jerome. Jerome put The Dons in front on 28 minutes as he headed past debutant Will Norris.

Stephen Walker turned James Tarkowski inside out and crossed the ball into the box which was flicked on by Scott Fraser and Jerome was there to head the ball into the bottom corner.

The leaders were nearly reduced to 10 men after John Moss brandished a red card to defender Richard Keogh after he was judged to have denied Chris Wood a goalscoring opportunity by handling the ball in the air.

Though after viewing the VAR monitor Moss reversed his decision to a yellow, much to Keogh’s relief.

With time running out in the second half Robbie Brady swung in a freekick towards the head of substitute Joel Mumbongo who was making his first-team debut for The Clarets on his 22^nd birthday.

Mumbongo got on the end of Brady’s freekick to head the ball into the path of fellow substitute Mateg Vydra who scored with virtually the last kick of normal time.

Vydra looked buoyed by his goal and nearly gave Burnley the lead in extra time but his shot was saved by Nicholls who impressed all afternoon for MK Dons. Neither side were able to earn the win in normal time and so the game went to penalties.

Vydra stepped up to take Burnley’s first penalty but unlike earlier in the game, he missed his effort to give MK Dons an early advantage.

On-loan Stoke City midfielder Lasse Sørensen then had his penalty saved by Norris to draw the scores level. Norris then made it back-to-back saves as he kept out Ben Gladwin’s penalty to give Burnley the chance of going ahead.

Josh Benson then converted the following penalty which meant all Phil Bardsley had to do was score his attempt and Burnley were through. The full-back duly obliged and smashed the ball into the bottom left corner to send Sean Dyche’s men through to face Fulham at Craven cottage in the fourth round.

 

Russell Martin would have been pleased with how his side acquitted themselves against Premier league opposition, and it is certainly a benchmark they will be looking to maintain as the fixtures come thick and fast in league 1.

They face another cup fixture tonight as they come up against Northampton Town in the Football League Trophy.

Burnley will be hoping to use the momentum of the victory in the cup as they head into tonight’s hotly anticipated game in hand against Manchester United at Turf Moor.

The last time the two sides met Burnley came out on top defeating Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s men 2-0 at Old Trafford in January of last year, and a similar result this evening certainly wouldn’t go amiss.

Hello and welcome...

Hello and welcome to WheelTalkSport. A new blog hosted by me Joe Skinner. As you may have guessed from the title of this blog I use an electric wheelchair hence the title WheelTalkSport, get it…

This blog idea came about as in September of this year I embarked on a Multimedia Sports Journalism degree at UCFB Etihad in Manchester with the end goal of working in the sports journalism industry. 

UCFB provides a range of networking opportunities that allow you to gain vital knowledge and insight into how the world of football operates. In layman’s terms it is basically the best place to combine your love of sport with the education needed to get into the professional sports industry, and I highly recommend it to anybody who is interested in a career in sport!

In this blog I intend to write about my three main sporting interests which are football, boxing and darts. Whilst also providing match reports on my beloved Burnley FC and giving you an insight into sporting events through the eyes of a wheelchair user when we hopefully return to normality at some point in the next century! But before all that, here is a bit about me for anyone who is interested…

I’m a 21 year old from Padiham Lancashire with a condition called Cerebral Palsy, which affects the movement of all of my four limbs. Sport is one of my true loves in life, especially football. The beautiful game brings me so much joy and happiness. I have been an avid Burnley FC Season Ticket holder for 8 years now, and I love following The Clarets home and away!

In 2014 I helped set up the Danny Ings Disability Sports Project with Burnley FC in the Community, an organisation which I now work for.  This occurred due to a viral photograph taken of myself and Danny Ings back in 2012 when I was a chubby teenager! Danny gave me his boots at the end of the game vs Ipswich town on the final day of the season. The boots are still stored away safely in my house to this day and I have been friends with Danny ever since his fantastic gesture. 

A string of wonderful events have also occurred to me as a result of this photograph. These include me delivering talks at Parliament, and taking part in a BT sport feature on Disability inclusion within sport in 2017. This resulted in me getting the opportunity to go to Buckingham Palace which was a life affirming experience! Inclusion for disabled people across all forms of society is something I am hugely passionate about. I continue to strive on a daily basis to create a world where disabled people are treated equally, and are able to lead the life they want to lead. 

I hope that through this blog you can see the passion that is embedded within me for the wonderful invention that is sport. Life’s a game called sport and I intend to talk about it!