Spirited Burnley Comes From Behind to Punish Everton
A spirited Burnley side ended their long awaited search for three points after coming from a goal down to secure a 2-1 victory over 10-man Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.
A powerful and pinpoint header from the Cenk Tosun opened the scoring for the visitors; a goal which was the Turkish striker's first Premier League goal.
However, a wave of pressure in the second half forced Everton to crumble as Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood secured a valuable three points for the home side before, Ashley Williams was sent off after a tussle in the box.
A blistering cold Turf Moor welcomed two of the Premier League's most out of form clubs with Burnley heading into the fixture without a win in their last 11 games, and Everton without an away victory in their last four attempts.
The Clarets dominated the proceeding early, as they looked for the breakthrough to end their barren run. Sean Dyche's sides early success came through balls over the top and deliveries whipped into the box, with Everton forced to throw their bodies in the way to keep the scores level.
Despite Everton having struggled to string together any meaningful passages of play the visitors should have hit the front with just 15 minutes on the clock. Gylfi Sigurdsson expertly weaved his way to the by-line before cutting the ball back for Theo Walcott, only for the England international to sky the ball over the crossbar from close range.
Burnley responded in kind with a number of near misses of their own before the Toffees burst into life and punished the Clarets for failing to clear their lines. A perfectly weighted cross into the area from Walcott was flicked on by Seamus Coleman, with Tosun the first to rise and power the ball beyond an outstretched Nick Pope in the 20th minute.
Dyche's men continued to dominate possession in the aftermath of the goal but Everton proved dangerous on the counter; Pope, however, stood up to the test posed by the likes of Walcott and Tosun.
Everton were buoyed by their early lead but the Clarets appeared to have stopped them in their tracks before the half hour mark, that was until Jordan Pickford unleashed a stunning one-handed save to deny Ashley Barnes from sending his bullet of a header into the back of the net.
The end-to-end affair picked up from where it left off on the other side of half time with the Clarets piling on the pressure early on. However, Pickford once again proved to be the thorn in Burnley's side as a powerful header from Ben Mee was superbly tipped away from goal.
The Clarets' pressure proved to great for the visitors in the 56th minute as Barnes leveled the scores in emphatic fashion after running on to a perfectly weighted through ball from Matthew Lowton, which left the striker one-on-one with Pickford.
Just as Everton had experienced some joy in front of goal through Sigurdsson - having failed to show any attacking intent under the barrage from the home side - the rug was taken out from under their feet as Burnley hit the front through Wood who buried a back post header with minimal pressure ten minutes from time.
The visitors' woes were compounded when Williams was shown a red card after throwing an elbow into the face of Barnes during an Everton set-piece.
Burnley will now head on the road to West Ham full of confidence having secured their first win in eleven games, while Everton will host Brighton in a bid to arrest their lackluster form.
