Burnley (Home) 11.05.2024

With Burnley needing a win to have the slightest sniff of a hope of staying up and Tottenham needing a win after four straight defeats and to stay in the chase for a place in Europe, it was set to be an interesting afternoon.  With Richarlison out after picking up a calf injury in training, Johnson, Son and Kulusevski lead the line, with Maddison returning in midfield, with Ange preferring to start Oliver Skipp at left back after his cameo performance off the bench at Anfield last time out.

Tottenham got the match underway and Maddison’s early shot took a deflection off Taylor for a corner, but Burnley showed they didn’t intend to roll over and accept relegation, as they produced a very good chance after four minutes.  A long cross from their right wing by Odobert found the head of Vitinho and he headed back across goal bringing out a fine stretching save from Guglielmo Vicario, but the ball was dropping in at the far post until Cristian Romero won a header under pressure to get the ball away and Micky van de Ven put it out for a corner.  It was quite an open start to the match, with Spurs making a good chance after Kulusevski crossed from the left for Johnson to hit the ball first time.  It wasn’t a powerful volley, but forced Muric to push the ball wide. 

The referee did well when he allowed play to continue and then went back to book Cullen for a late tackle on Maddison earlier in the play, it was just a shame that he allowed Assignon to get away with two wrestling throws on Kulu, who had out-witted him on both occasions.  Son was dropping deep to receive the ball, but with little movement, he was unable to do much with it coming in the opposite direction to the Burnley goal, although he did get a shot away, but it was weak and straight at the keeper.  That came just before Porro picked him out on the edge of the box and Son turned, but dragged his shot way wide.  It was then that Burnley went into the lead out of the blue.  Playing out from the goal-kick, they moved it up to Sander Berge just inside his own half and he broke through two tackles, cut inside Porro and slid a pass to his right, where Bruun Larsen took the pass on the edge of the box and put it to Vicario’s right as he dived to his left.  It was a bit of a shock, but then again, not really, as we have gone behind in games so often this season.

On a bad run, Spurs would have to react well to see off a determined Burnley.  Kulusevski put a ball into the box, but there was no white shirt there, but as the ball came out, Pedro Porro won a good tackle and blazed a shot at goal that flew over the bar as he tried to emulate his FA Cup goal against them (albeit a lot closer !).  in the 32nd minute he did even better to pull Tottenham level.  Skipp knocked the ball on to Porro on halfway and he passed it on to Johnson, who returned the pass and set Pedro off on a run from 40 yards out that went unchallenged until he powered a thunderbolt in at the keeper’s near post from inside the box, just wide right of the goal before O’Shea could get across to make a block.  This was more like the Spurs we had seen earlier in the season and what we wanted to see more of.

Suddenly Burnley looked unsettled, with Muric’s distribution causing them problems.  Brennan Johnson picked one off and ran in on the right side of the goal, but from a tight angle, went for goal, only finding the side-netting with Son open in the middle.  Skipp denied Bruun Larsen the opportunity to make more of a good threaded pass to him, by chasing him back at the expense of a corner, which they couldn’t make anything of.  Muric was at it again, passing the ball straight to Son, but his shot at goal came off a defender for a corner, which again wasn’t dangerous, going off over everyone on the far side of the goal.  However, it was the visitors who finished the half on the attack, with Bruun Larsen’s shot low, but directly at Vicario.  And that was it for the first half.  Few scoring efforts and a lot of endeavour under the hot sun, which had Burnley running for a drinks break after they scored, just to waste a bit of time.

The appearance of Moussa Dembele at half time was a welcome change from some of the usual suspects who are wheeled out at the break, but it was a bit of a shock to hear that he is like Benoit Assou-Ekotto in that he didn’t take a great interest in football, but spends time with his family back in Belgium.  It is no surprise that some footballers aren’t interested in continuing in the game after they finish playing, but you would have thought that they occasionally looked for their old team’s results, but then, they are just doing a job and it is not necessarily like being a fan.

Soon after the start of the second half, the teams swapped yellow cards, with Taylor booked for a bad tackle on Kulusevski, while Maddison collected a yellow for a handball as Burnley looked to break from the back.  As has been the trait this season, Spurs were better in the second half and Kulusevski switching to the right with Johnson going left seemed to work better.  Dejan put a ball into the near post that was cleared and it ended up with Son, who delayed his shot but got a corner as it came off a Burnley player.   There was a bit of pressure on the Burnley goal, without threatening it too much, although we were wining the ball higher up the pitch and when Sarr did so, it was moved across to Porro, who broke into the box, but could only find the side-netting as he was closed down.

Burnley still posed the odd threat and when Kulusevski was beaten in the tackle by Taylor, Odobert came inside from the left to shoot from the edge of the box, but Romero got in the way.  The resulting corner was cleared, but came back in for Esteve to head at goal, but it looped onto the top of the netting.  Assignon was soon fouling again, knocking over Skipp and complaining that it shouldn’t have been a free-kick, but it brought about a good move that almost produced a goal for Tottenham.  The ball was played forward to Maddison just inside the Spurs half and he passed to Johnson tight on the left touchline before receiving the return pass and running forward into the area.  There he dragged the ball past O’Shea and placed a low shot at goal that Muric did well to beat out.  

Bissouma was snapping into tackles and won the ball giving it to Sarr, who frustrated Son, as he passed outside to Kulusevski.  Sarr himelf was winning the ball in midfield, taking the ball off Berge on the halfway line, he ran away from the Burnley midfielder, only to be dragged down by him, earning Berge a yellow card.  Spurs were trying some different free-kicks, this one pulled left to Johnson, but it fizzled out and the playing of balls into the box all day was poor.  Burnley defended them well, but either low balls in were not accurate or lacked pace with high balls easily dealt with against our attack that lacks height.  We got most joy from the opponents trying to play the ball out and they did it badly.  Kulusevski was gifted the ball and went into the box, trying to curl it around Muric, but only found the keeper’s hands. 

Son and Maddison were dropping deeper to try to make some space from where they had come from, but it was when our skipper was in an advanced position that he created a good opening for Porro.  He twisted and turned Esteve before laying it off to his right for Pedro to hit first time, slicing across it to send it wide of the near post.  When Burnley broke to look dangerous on the edge of the box, Bruun Larsen laid the ball into the run of substitute Manuel Benson, who had just com on, Bissouma made a vital challenge to block his shot.  Both players went down and needed treatment, with Benson being ordered by his bench to go off the pitch by the longest route to the East Stand side, but the ref made him go off on the opposite side of the pitch.  

Ange made three subs, Dragusin for Skipp, Bentancur for Bissouma and Scarlett for Kulusevski, with van de Ven moving to left back with Radu playing in the middle of the defence.  It proved a good move to free him and give him an attacking role, putting a low ball in on the overlap straight away.  Muric was forced into action to take that low down, but his next involvement was to rush out of goal to concede a throw-in, which Johnson took quickly, just putting it too far ahead of Scarlett in the area.  The keeper’s kick out put his player under pressure on the halfway line by van de Ven and Dragusin won the ball, played it down the line for Son to run at Esteve, who he fooled with a step-over and fired a ball across goal that Brennan Johnson just failed to convert at the far post.  The ball went just wide as the striker smashing into the post as he went for it.  Picking up the ball deep in the Spurs half, Romero took it forward, passed it to Johnson and then hared beyond the defender in front of him to reach the return.  Inside the area, he screwed the ball back and while it didn’t find Scarlett who slipped over, it dropped for Pape Matar Sarr level with the penalty spot to shoot to the keeper’s left and he parried it away. 

From a throw-in on halfway on the right, Rodrigo Bentancur received the ball, sliding it sideways in his own half to Dragusin.  The Romanian moved forward with the ball into the Burnley half, finding Maddison, who laid it back to Sarr, who played it left to Romero, then it came inside to Bentancur and he quickened the pace with a straight, sharp pass into Maddison.  Micky van de Ven was ahead of him, so he was found with a pass and moving across from the left to right 20 yards out, went past O’Shea and with Scarlett’s run across him, it took Esteve out of the play, leaving the Dutchman space and time to sort his feet out and slide a left foot shot wide to Muric’s right and into the bottom corner of the goal to get the ground to erupt.  His shot from just inside the area was perfectly placed around O’Shea hindering Muric’s view and the placement ensured that the keeper wasn’t going to reach it.

Spurs were now in control and were knocking the ball around confidently and when Son took on Assignon, he pulled the ball back for Bentancur to strike at goal, but a block took it away for a corner, which Maddison planted onto Romero’s head with Muric diving to his left to keep out the powerful header.  Sarr got to Odobert too late for a challenge and received a booking for it as Burnley made two attacking subs in an attempt to rescue something late from the game, with a couple of minutes plus added time left.  Ange brought on “The Finisher” Pierre Hojbjerg to see out the game replacing Sarr and Lo Celso came off the bench for Maddison.

In the 90th minute, the impressive Benson played a ball down the right for Assignon to run onto in the Spurs penalty area.  With Son running with him, the BUrnley defender went down, no doubt hoping for a penalty, but there was little, if any, contact and a goal-kick was given.  That didn’t stop the Clarets full-back from laying in the box, face down and then rolling around like he had been hit by a bus.  He started beating the ground until Dara O’Shea ran the length of the pitch to tell him to get up and get on with it.  This wasn’t what Assignon wanted to hear and they exchanged words, which the “injured” party then did with the linesman, earning a long overdue yellow card from his early offences.  He continued to berate the referee, who very generously allowed him to get away with it, although Vincent Kompany did get cautioned for dissent on the touchline.  Assignon was making the VAR sign as he stormed off and should really have got another yellow for that, but as it turned out, it was just as well they didn’t go to VAR, as the replay showed that Son was nowhere near him and the defender caught the back of his standing leg as he ran forward, thus fouling himself !  

After the pantomime of the penalty claim, Assignon became the villain of the piece, roundly booed by Spurs fans every time the ball went near him.  Spurs were all out attacking now and a fine pass by Bentancur sent Johnson free and his ball across, intended for Scarlett was cut out at the near post by O’Shea.  Burnley did look to break, sending Benson chasing a long ball, but Dragusin was strong enough to hold him off.  One last free-kick for the visitors and although Muric came up for it, Fofana decided to push Bentancur to the floor with two hands in the Spurs midfielder’s chest thus making Tresor’s delivery pointless.  And that was how Burnley left the THS.  They left down and out of the Premier League with one game to go. 

The Clarets had looked neat on occasions and but for Vicario’s stretch in the first few minutes, the result might have been different.  It wasn’t the greatest Spurs performance, but we just about managed to beat Burnley.  How things will go on Tuesday, anyone can guess, but Arsenal shouldn’t be expecting any favours based on this match.  Son looks to be taking the weight of the world on his shoulders and looks like he is thinking too much when he gets the ball around the box, so reducing his goal-scoring instinct.  That combined with the lack of quality of ball into the area meant that we had to rely on two defenders to score the goals.  While City might not play the same way as Burnley, they will be all over us and so we need to play quickly, which we only did in the second half.  Our first half performances are a concern and f we are to get anything from the City match, we need to be on our game and to make the most of the opportunities that might be created.

Romero and van de Ven were outstanding at the back, Pape had a very good game in midfield, with Bissouma looking more like he was at the start of the season.  Porro and Skipp held up in the full-back positions well, with Maddison coming into the match more in the second half.

The three points were more than welcome in our run in, but the next match will really test our mettle.

John Lacy’s Love Child  

• Burnley’s loss sent them down to the Championship for the 2024-25 season.