Burnley 1-0 Stoke: Late Ashley Barnes goal sends Burnley into fourth

By Charlotte Marsh

Wednesday 13 December 2017 09:46, UK

A late goal from substitute Ashley Barnes sent Burnley into fourth place in the Premier League table as they beat Stoke City 1-0.

The game looked to be heading towards a stalemate with neither side producing many chances of quality at a wet and windy Turf Moor, but Barnes clinched the victory for the Clarets with his strike in the 89th minute.

The three points lifts Sean Dyche's side into the final Champions League spot for at least 24 hours ahead of Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham, who all play on Wednesday evening.

Stoke, meanwhile, remain in 15th with 16 points and have now lost four of their last five Premier League matches.

The Potters began the game well after their 5-1 defeat by Tottenham on Saturday and could have had a goal inside five minutes, but Peter Crouch was unable to latch onto a wayward James Tarkowski clearance at the back post as Burnley 'keeper Nick Pope pushed the ball clear.

Pope had his hands on the ball again moments later, this time to collect a strong shot from Kurt Zouma after a Xherdan Shaqiri corner.

The best chance of the first half came in the 28th minute when Shaqiri slipped in Mame Biram Diouf down the right-hand side of the box. The forward got onto the ball, but was closely marked by Tarkowski as his eventual effort skimmed the corner of the crossbar.

Burnley grew into the game and ended the first half strongly with a flurry of efforts in the 39th minute. Following a cleared corner, Scott Arfield saw an effort blocked by a melee of bodies in the box before the rebound fell to Johann Berg Gudmundsson, whose curling effort went wide of the goal.

It took until the 69th minute for the first real chance of the second half to arrive, with Steven Defour latching onto a poor Kevin Wimmer clearance and taking a touch before unleashing a powerful volley, but it was straight at Stoke 'keeper Butland and he was able to comfortably collect.

Crouch had the best chance of the half for Stoke in the 87th minute when Diouf's knockdown picked out the striker on the left of the box, but as he went to shoot, Crouch slipped on the slick surface and his effort went just over the crossbar.

But it was Barnes who finally found the back of the net two minutes later. Jack Cork played the ball forward to the striker at the top of the box, and he played a one-two with Arfield before powering home past Butland and sending Burnley into fourth spot.

Opta stats

Excluding the first two days of this season when not all the teams had played, Burnley last found themselves in the top-flight top-four back on March 21st 1975 (3rd).
This is Stoke's worst-ever Premier League campaign after 17 games, with just 16 points accrued.
Premier League games at Turf Moor this season have produced just 10 goals in total (in nine games), five fewer than any other ground.
Only Manchester United (9) have kept more Premier League clean sheets than the Clarets this season (8).

The managers

Sean Dyche: "I've said many times recently, of course it feels good [to be doing well], it feels good for the town and the supporters, but for us it's business that we have to get on with in the next game - they are coming around quickly this week.

"We stay focused on the task and the next game is the most important one but I'm very pleased with tonight. When you're not playing as well as you can, and the other team are, it's important to find a way to get a result and that's what we've done tonight."

Mark Hughes: "Clearly it wasn't the result we wanted and it wasn't the result we deserved in all honesty. We restricted them to very few opportunities, I think their goal was the one clear shot we let them have the whole game. I thought our guys were magnificent in terms of standing up to the challenge."

Man of the match - Ashley Barnes

He may have only been on for 20 minutes, but Burnley's attacking play stepped up a gear with his introduction, instantly causing problems for the Stoke defence and he could have scored twice within seconds of coming on. Of course, a late winner also helps his case and he took it in his stride. He certainly staked a claim for a bigger role in upcoming matches.