With a comprehensive win, West Brom jumped into the top half of the Premier League table, while Burnley‘s struggles away from home continue.
West Brom 4 Burnley 0: Match Review
West Brom came into this game looking to build upon their win against Leicester City heading into the international break. They kept the ball rolling in style by catching Burnley off guard with a Matt Phillips goal in the fourth minute. Phillips has continued his hot form scoring in two straight Premier League matches for the first time in his career. When a team scores that early in a match, they have two choices keep up the pressure or sit back and be complacent.
West Brom chose the former, hitting Burnley for a second goal from an excellent strike by James Morrison, which was assisted by Salomón Rondón. At this point, Burnley were forced to open up play, something that is not one of their strengths. The Clarets built their success this year on an organized build up combined with a stout defense. When that breaks down, they have a tough time getting results.
The Baggies would make it three in the 37th minute when Darren Fletcher latched onto the end of a Phillips pass. At this point, West Brom were overpowering Burnley and executing Tony Pulis‘ game plan with perfection. West Brom have always been a team criticized for not playing attractive attacking football but on this day, they were able to open the floodgates.
For the most part, the second half was uneventful with Burnley being unable to create attacking chances and West Brom holding firm. Sam Vokes was isolated up top and the Baggies were able to tear apart the Burnley defense. Rondón was able to get on the scoresheet in the 64th minute with an easy finish that was assisted by Nyom.
The win sees West Brom climb to ninth in the table while Burnley fall to 12th with the loss. Burnley haven’t won at the Hawthorns since 1969 and they will have to wait a little longer to buck that trend.
Burnley’s woes away from home continue:
The Clarets haven’t been good away from Turf Moor this season. They have earned one point in away matches, scoring one goal compared to the 13 that they’ve conceded. At home they have picked up 13 points, scoring 10 goals and conceding six. These drastic issues may be down to confidence.
Sean Dyche will be tasked with steadying the ship because, while Burnley are above the relegation zone currently, that could change if their road form continues.
The goals rain in for West Brom:
While collecting a clean sheet was impressive for the Baggies, most didn’t expect them to put four goals past Burnley. More importantly, West Brom pulled this off without Nacer Chadli in the squad.
It has been a while since West Brom have been able to score goals with such ease, and if it continues they could surprise some people this season. Pulis already has them on an impressive run to get into the top half of the table but this could just be the beginning.
West Brom will travel to Hull City this coming Saturday, while Burnley will host Manchester City on the same day.
West Brom: Foster, McAuley, Nyom, Dawson, Evans, Morrison (Gardner 83′), Phillips (McClean 75’), Yacob, Fletcher (C), Brunt, Rondón (Robson-Kanu 79′)
Unused subs: Palmer, Olsson, Galloway, Leko
Burnley: Heaton (C), Lowton, Keane, Ward, Mee, Defour (Barnes 45′), Marney, Gudmundsson (Boyd 79′), Arfield, Hendrick, Vokes (Gray 70′)
Unused subs:Robinson, Tarkowski, Flanagan, Kightly
REFEREE: Mike Jones
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