West Ham surged into an early 2-0 lead at Burnley on Saturday and held on for a crucial victory in their fight against relegation.
WATCH — Full match replay
Crysencio Summerville finished calmly to give West Ham the perfect start at Turf Moor and Taty Castellanos headed home a second soon after, as for the third game running Nuno Espirito Santo’s raced into a big first half lead.
But unlike their defeat at Chelsea last weekend they held on for the win this time, despite Scott Parker’s Burnley throwing everything at them in the second half.
With the win West Ham move on to 23 points and are just three points from Nottingham Forest, and safety, as they’ve won three of their last four league games. Burnley have now gone 16 games without a win and remain 11 points from safety.
Summerville, Fernandes link-up shows why Hammers can stay up
Crysencio Summerville has scored in five-straight matches and the Dutch winger is showing calmness and a clinical edge when a big chance arrives. That ability, plus his pace on the counter, make him perfect for the way Nuno likes to set up his team. But then Jarrod Bowen and Summerville need someone to feed them when they make their fast runs in-behind on the break. That is where Mateus Fernandes comes in. The Portuguese midfielder has been West Ham’s most consistent player this season after his arrival from Southampton last summer. Fernandes drove forward with intent and put the ball on a plate for Summerville to speed away and dink home the all-important opener. If Fernandes can keep pushing West Ham forward quickly from midfield he knows that more often than not Summerville (especially right now), new signing Taty Castellanos and Bowen will finish. West Ham have scored seven goals in their last three league games and Nuno’s counter-attacking style has clicked in. They aren’t out of the relegation zone yet but if they can stay solid at the back, these lethal counters and Fernandes’ drive will soon have the Hammers out of the bottom three.
What’s next?
Burnley head to Crystal Palace on Wednesday. West Ham host Manchester United on Tuesday.
Burnley vs West Ham score: 0-2
Summerville 13', Castellanos 26'
Burnley vs West Ham live updates! — By Joe Prince-Wright
Humphreys smashes just wide
Once again Burnley go close as Humphreys unleashes a beauty of a shot from outside the box but it flies just wide.
West Ham have weathered the storm, for now
Bowen is in and should tee up Summerville but the ball across is not up to his usual standards. Just over 25 minutes for West Ham to see this out.
Flemming’s header cleared off the line!
Another corner comes in and Flemming’s header is somehow cleared off the line. It’s all Burnley! West Ham dropping deeper and deeper.
Edwards goes close again!
A huge block from Wan-Bissaka to deny Edwards as Burnley are chucking absolutely everything at West Ham.
Burnley go close three times!
A header is blocked by Disasi in the six yard box, then Edwards has a beauty of a shot pushed away by Hermansen and moments later a corner causes chaos but West Ham managed to clear the danger.
Half time: Burnley 0-2 West Ham
Dream first half for West Ham as they’ve been clinical and looked really dangerous on the counter. Burnley are still in this but will have to take plenty of risks in the second half if they’re going to get anything from this hugely important game.
Edwards curls just wide!
To be fair to Burnley, they are still giving it a go. Marcus Edwards cuts inside and curls an effort just wide of the far post. If they get one back before half time this will be interesting...
Taty Castellanos finishes!
After defending plenty of set pieces well, West Ham have doubled their lead through January signing Taty Castellanos. Lovely cross from Diouf on the right and Castellanos punches a low header home. Textbook Nuno ball.
Summerville dinks home the opener
Lovely attack from West Ham as Mateus Fernandes drives forward and threads the ball through to Crysencio Summerville. He dinks the ball over Dubravka and in. 1-0 to the Hammers! Summerville has scored in five games in a row!
Burnley lineup
Dubravka; Walker, Esteve, Humphreys, Pires; Ugochukwu, Florentino, Mejbri; Edwards, Anthony; Flemming
West Ham lineup
Hermansen; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Disasi, Diouf; Bowen, Soucek, Fernandes, Summerville; Wilson, Castellanos
Burnley vs West Ham preview
Scott Parker’s Burnley were hammered 3-0 at Sunderland on Monday and that means they’ve gone 15 games without a win in the Premier League. They are 11 points from safety with 14 games to go and they have to win this game if they have any hope of staying up.
West Ham had an upturn in results with back-to-back wins against Spurs and Sunderland but they coughed up a 2-0 lead at Chelsea last weekend to lose 3-2 in agonizing fashion late on. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have dragged other teams back into the relegation scrap but are still six points from safety.
Burnley team news, focus
Josh Cullen, Conor Roberts, Zeki Amdouni, and Jordan Beyer all remain out and are joined by Mike Tresor. Now it’s all about Parker trying to find the right balance for his team who had been so tough to break down in their 3-4-2-1 formation before the heavy defeat at Sunderland. Will he stick with that formation? Or is it time to throw caution to the win and press West Ham high? If they try to do that, they could get picked off on the counter. It’s a dangerous balancing act but Burnley simply have to start picking up wins.
West Ham team news, focus
There is a new look and feel to this West Ham side and it feels like they are going to get out of trouble. But time is running out. They needed to improve their defense in the January window but they didn’t and now they’re without Jean-Clair Todibo for this game due to his late red card against Chelsea. On the counter West Ham are very dangerous in attack with Jarrod Bowen, Crysencio Summerville, Taty Castellanos, and Pablo Felipe but they need to stop opponents from creating, and scoring, at the other end.
Burnley vs West Ham prediction
This is going to be very nervy and it will probably end in a draw, which nobody wants. Burnley 1-1 West Ham.
How to watch Burnley vs West Ham live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 10am ET Saturday (February 7)
Venue: Turf Moor — Burnley, Lancashire
TV Channel: Peacock
Streaming: Stream live on Peacock
