TALKING POINTS: Burnley 2, Wolves 1

Ashley Barnes headed the Clarets in front from a superb Charlie Taylor cross in the first half, as Burnley countered a Wolves counter attack.

And Chris Wood thumped in a second after Ben Mee headed on an Ashley Westwood free kick, and Rayan Aït-Nouri – under pressure from Barnes – inadvertently nodded on for Wood to hammer home.

Either side of the goals Barnes and Wood had big chances, and the game should have been well out of sight before £35m substitute Fabio Silva won a soft penalty, and Joao Moutinho somehow avoided a red card for a stamp on Josh Brownhill, as he looked to kill the clock in the corner.

Here are the talking points:

BARNES IS BACK

You could almost hear the groans from social media when the teams were announced, with Ashley Barnes brought into the side at the expense of Jay Rodriguez.

Barnes had looked a long way off the pace when introduced as a substitute in the goal-less draw at Aston Villa last Thursday night, but as Sean Dyche looked for a solution to a relative goal drought – with the side only scoring six goals in 12 league games – he went by his gut feeling.

Chris Wood and Barnes have produced so often for Dyche as a pairing, and, despite Barnes being written off in some quarters for the umpteenth time, after a frustrating calendar year, he delivered yet again.

Write him off at your peril!

Barnes epitomises Burnley, and often, if he is bang at it, so are Burnley.

He is awkward, uncompromising, and while his early stats were ominous – he was the only player not to complete a pass in the opening 20 minutes and had the fewest touches – he grew into the game.

He missed a big chance to put Burnley ahead, but gobbled up a second, and had a hand in Wood’s clincher, as he seemed to grow 6ft taller.

Barnes ended the game with the most duels won, most aerial duels won, most fouls won, most shots and most shots on target.

TAYLOR STARS

Charlie Taylor made his 100th appearance at Villa last week, and followed that up with one of his best performances against Wolves.

Taylor made up a remarkable amount of ground from Wood’s lay off to dig out a cross that demanded Barnes headed home, and his defensive work was top notch, even when Wolves introduced Adama Traore, and his power and pace, later in the game.

Dyche had said at Villa that Taylor could do better in the final third, and he instantly showed why the boss feels he can: “He’s done well, he continues to improve, I think he can still attack in better areas at times, because he’s a really good athlete, and see the picture probably quicker in the attacking format.

“But, you saw a couple of brilliant blocks, brilliant tackles, he’s a very good defender, he’s quick and strong, a good sizee, so I think he’s developing well still.

Taylor returns to Elland Road on Sunday for the first time since joining Burnley in the summer of 2017, and with left back something of a problem area for the Whites, it is no wonder a number of United fans have made their feelings known on social media that they remain disappointed at his departure.

BALANCE

Burnley have become hard to beat again, as their run of one defeat in seven games attests.

They have kept four clean sheets in that run, and it should have been five really, with Wolves not testing Nick Pope until a soft last-minite penalty made injury time more uncomfortable than it should have been, after one of the most convincing displays of the season.

While the defensive side of the Clarets’ game has looked very much in order since Ben Mee was paired again with James Tarkowski after injury, Burnley had their issues at the other end.

Six goals in the first 12 Premier League games spoke volumes, and Dyche said: “The defensive side of it we’ve altered and they’re doing well with it.

“Now it’s that balance, getting our strikers firing.

“But we want to make it happen rather than wait for it to happen, that’s the key.

“They are doing the basics well, and that has been important to us each season in the Premier League.

“We’ve done that again, good shape, energy and commitment to the cause, which has been first class.

“Now we have to find the balance of opening up the team enough to make sure we have a chance to score more goals.”

And Burnley did make it happen against Wolves.

Not only did they score twice for the first time in the Premier League since their opening game of the season at Leicester, they hit two for the first time at home since beating Bournemouth 3-0 in February.

And it wasn’t just the goal tally which was improved, it was the chance creation.

Wood and Barnes both could and should have added to their goals, while Josh Brownhill was so unlucky not to get his first Premier League goal, hitting the woodwork with a terrific effort after capitalising on a slip from Ruben Neves.

REFEREES AND VAR

It wouldn’t be a Premier League game without some sort of fuss about the referee or VAR.

Only this time, Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo’s rant raised a number of eyebrows, as Lee Mason effectively had a 90 minutes where he was barely visible.

Indeed, Burnley could have been aggrieved, as Mason gave Fabio SIlva a soft penanlty as he went to ground after colliding with substitute Josh Benson, before Joao Moutinho stamped on Brownhill but avoided punishment.

However, Nuno made his feelings clear: “The referee did not have the quality for a Premier League game, this is a problem we know - we had Lee Mason before.

“It is not about the crucial mistake or decisions, it is about how he handles the game.

“The players get nervous, he whistles from the noises from the players.

“We are talking about the best competition but he does not have the quality to whistle the game.

“I just don’t want to see him more, I told him him I hope he does not whistle a game of ours again.

“He cannot control the players, the players are constantly arguing. The other referees let the game flow.”

The level of dissent aimed at Mason by Wolves players throughout the game was not a good look, and, as we saw at Aston Villa with Jack Grealish and John McGinn in the referee’s ear, we saw the same with Neves and Moutinho here.

Burnley’s disciplinary record shows you they don’t get involved in any of that nonsense, and there are no shouts and screams when they are challenged, or not.

We all know Barnes can frustrate opponents by ‘winning’ free kicks, but Burnley players largely play hard and fair, with simulation far from their thoughts.

The Clarets, however, are continually referred to as naive, because they refuse to accept in the modern game any contact is a foul, and don’t throw themselves to the ground.

As Dyche said last week: “I’ve no clue what’s happening in the game at the moment.

“I’ve spoken clearly about the good of the game, but I don’t think many people are particularly interested.”