Burnley 1-2 West Ham: Late heartbreak cruelly denies Clarets first home points of the season

For so long Vincent Kompany’s men looked to be heading to a crucial three points thanks to Jay Rodriguez’s penalty.

But Divin Mubama beat James Trafford from close range in the 86th minute to break Burnley hearts before Tomas Soucek thrust the knife in even deeper in stoppage time.

The cruel, cruel defeat keeps the Clarets bottom of the Premier League table and means they’ve now lost 11 of their 13 games this season.

The Clarets named an unchanged side for the third game running as the returning Hjalmar Ekdal returned to the bench.

Arijanet Muric missed out with an infection that ruled him out of Kosovo’s game against Belarus on Tuesday night.

Jack Cork, meanwhile, was absent with a knock he picked up in training, while Lyle Foster remains unavailable due to receiving specialist care for his mental wellbeing.

Ameen Al-Dakhil, Hannes Delcroix, Han-Noah Massengo, Manuel Benson, Darko Churlinov, Mike Tresor and Wilson Odobert were not involved.

As for West Ham, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio missed out through injury but Mohammed Kudus, who was a doubt, started.

Former Burnley man Danny Ings also came in from the start.

It was his teammate Tomas Soucek who had the game’s first opportunity though, lofting a header straight at James Trafford after being teed up by Lucas Paqueta.

Burnley, meanwhile, hit back with an early chance of their own, Johann Gudmundsson shooting straight at Alphonse Areola with a well-hit first-time effort after a corner had been partially cleared to him.

After a quiet start to the game, Burnley were unfortunate not to open the scoring in the 13th minute when Sander Berge did well to rob Paqueta of the ball high up the pitch.

The midfielder instantly fed Jay Rodriguez whose low ball across the face of goal was inches away from Zeki Amdouni.

The game was largely a pedestrian affair with minimal entertainment on offer, but at least Burnley were in the game and putting up a fight.

Amdouni was again involved just before the half-hour mark as he teed up the unmarked Luca Koleosho, but the winger’s first-time effort was beaten away by Areola at the near post.

Sander Berge turned provider for Amdouni later in the half as the Norwegian whipped in a teasing cross from the right, but his teammate could only glance a header two or three yards wide of the far post.

The big talking point of the first-half came six minutes before the break when Burnley were denied a penalty.

Koleosho was the man involved, tripped by Vladimir Coufal inside the box, but the referee waved away the appeals.

A VAR check ensued, but despite Coufal appearing to move his leg and trip Koleosho, the officials agreed there had been no clear and obvious error.

The Hammers raced up the other end and won their first corner of the game, raising fears of an immediate punishment, but thankfully Burnley were able to deal with James Ward-Prowse’s threatening delivery.

Having rightfully felt aggrieved heading into half-time, their complaints didn’t last long as they were awarded a penalty at the start of the second 45.

Koloesho was again involved, brought down by Kudus. It looked a softer call than the first one, but this time referee Sam Barrott showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

Jay Rodriguez stepped up and made no mistake, confidently sending the ball down the middle with Areola diving into the corner.

The goal actually served to wake up the visitors, who had previously offered nothing for the opening 55 minutes.

Ward-Prowse became increasingly influential with his set-pieces, with the Clarets forced to make a couple of important blocks in quick succession before Paqueta fired just over from the edge of the box.

With the game finally beginning to open up, Burnley almost hit West Ham for a second on the break as Amdouni raced into the box before drilling a low effort that almost crept into the near post, but Areola did well to get a strong hand to it to turn it behind.

From the resulting corner Dara O’Shea was left unmarked but wastefully headed over the bar.

A little bit of panic began to set in whenever West Ham got anywhere near their box, but Burnley were - in the main - hanging onto their lead relatively comfortably.

Substitute Aaron Ramsey, meanwhile, had a couple of opportunities on the break, using his fresh energy to get in behind but could only fire over with one effort.

At the other end, Kurt Zouma squandered a couple of chances, skewing wide with his first effort before Trafford claimed his second.

With the clock ticking down painfully slowly, the Hammers almost levelled with seven minutes remaining when Said Benrahma bent a curling shot inches wide from the angle.

With four minutes remaining, Burnley’s worst fears were realised when the visitors got themselves back on level terms.

Youngster Divin Mubama was the player to force the ball home from close range, albeit O’Shea also potentially got a touch, but the goal owed much to the work of Kudus in the build up to beat his man before pulling the ball back into the six-yard box.

Burnley retreated deeper and deeper, so two minutes into stoppage-time West Ham - almost inevitably - turned the game on its head completely with a dramatic late winner.

Soucek was the man to get it, steering home from close range after being left free at the back post.

Burnley’s hearts had been completely broken and there was nothing left to give, allowing the visitors to see out the remainder of stoppage-time without too much of a sweat.

TEAMS

Burnley: Trafford, Vitinho, Beyer, O’Shea, Taylor, Brownhill, Berge, Gudmundsson (Cullen), Koleosho (Zaroury), Amdouni (Ramsey), Rodriguez

Subs not used: Vigouroux, Roberts, Ekdal, Bruun Larsen, Redmond, Obafemi

West Ham: Areola, Coufal, Aguerd, Zouma, Emerson, Soucek, Alvarez (Benrahma), Ward-Prowse, Paqueta, Kudus, Ings (Mubama)

Subs not used: Fabianski, Creswell, Fornals, Mavropanos, Cornet, Ogbonna, Kehrer

Referee: Sam Barrott