Burnley beat Norwich 2 – 0. Emiliano Buendia was shown a straight red for violent conduct on Ashley Westwood after referee Kevin Friend watched a replay in the referee review area. Norwich had two players sent off in an extraordinary first half as they lost to Burnley on another night to forget for the relegated side.
Nine minutes later, Josip Drmic’s high-studded tackle on Erik Pieters received the same punishment, before Chris Wood’s scuffed overhead kick put Burnley in front on the stroke of half-time. It had been an uneventful opening half an hour before Norwich’s capitulation, with just one shot on target from either side.
The hosts defended well at times in the second half to keep the score down but Burnley’s victory was confirmed when Ben Godfrey poked the ball into the back of his own net with 10 minutes remaining.
Norwich become only the third club in the Premier League to lose five in a row at home without scoring, while Burnley move above Arsenal into ninth place. After Norwich’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed by a 4-0 thrashing against West Ham at Carrow Road on 11 July, it seemed things could not get much worse for Daniel Farke’s side.
However, the 1-0 defeat by Chelsea that followed meant they set a new club record of eight consecutive league defeats, and 25 overall – which was also the most they had suffered in one campaign. Canaries fans’ only hope was that they would go down with a fight in their remaining two games.
But the most conspicuous aggression shown from Farke’s side in the first half was in Buendia’s hot-headed elbow on Westwood – a reaction to a scuffle off the ball in midfield. Friend reviewed it on the screen following encouragement from the video assistant referee and that was the catalyst for a capitulation from Norwich that took all of 14 minutes.
Already a man down, the hosts started to face some pressure – Tim Krul reacted well to save Dwight McNeil’s deflected free-kick, before Wood appeared to trip over his own feet as he tried to tap in from close range.
Then came Drmic’s reckless tackle on Pieters which drew another red card from Friend, again reviewed by VAR and the decision upheld. And Norwich’s nightmare continued when Wood eventually gave Burnley the lead – Johann Gudmundsson slipped as he curled it in from the right and it bounced off Wood’s shin as his overhead effort rolled into the bottom corner.
Krul’s reaction – punching the post in frustration – summed up Norwich’s performance and when Godfrey slid the ball past Krul and into his own net under no pressure at the back post, the final whistle could not come soon enough for the Canaries. For Norwich, the season could get worse still when they travel to Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City in their final game.
Source – BBC News
In other news – Lewis Hamilton hails teammate Zim engineer Stephanie Travers
Lewis Hamilton hails teammate Zim engineer Stephanie Travers. The 6-time Formula One (F1) world champion Lewis Hamilton has showered praises on Zimbabwean chemical engineer and trackside fluid engineer for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team Stephanie Travers after she became the first black woman to stand on the Formula One podium on Sunday.
Travers was receiving Lewis Hamilton‘s Styrian Grand Prix trophy after he won the race. He had so much praise for his teammate and here is what he had to say…continue reading.
