PL REPORT: Wolves 0 Burnley 4

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Wood treble fires brilliant Clarets to biggest Premier League away win and brink of safety

2021-04-25T13:03:24.889Z

PL REPORT: Wolves 0 Burnley 4

Wood treble fires brilliant Clarets to biggest Premier League away win and brink of safety

2021-04-25T13:03:24.889Z

Chris Wood was the Clarets’ hat-trick hero on a magical afternoon at Molineux which saw the Clarets surge up the table on the back of a biggest ever away win in the Premier League.

Wood struck three times in a magnificent first-half performance to become the first Burnley player – and only the second in the Premier League era – to score a top-flight hat-trick since Andre Gray against Sunderland in December, 2016.

Wood took his tally to six goals in as many games and 10 for the season for a fourth year in a row since his arrival from Leeds United with a typically predatory performance.

And his treble – at the cutting edge of a magnificent team effort – and Ashley Westwood’s fantastic late strike improved the Clarets’ goal difference sufficiently to lift them up to 14th-place in the table and nine points clear of the relegation places with five games to go.

It was the perfect response to a losing three-game which had left a lingering threat of relegation.

And while the mathematics suggest safety isn’t yet assured, the show of intent from Sean Dyche’s men in securing Burnley’s first top-flight win at Wolves since 1973 and a first double at this level for over 60 years surely underlined the collective determination to make any threat to the Clarets’ top-tier status just a nominal one.

A look back at a unique year which again saw the Clarets rise to the challenge and keep their place among the elite

The Clarets – who had beaten Wolves at Turf Moor in December with the help of another Wood goal ¬– had Nick Pope back in goal following a two-game absence and also reverted to a 4-4-2 formation.

That meant a return for Matej Vydra as Wood’s striking partner, while Josh Brownhill moved out the right-hand side of midfield in place of Johann Berg Gudmundsson.

And the Clarets clicked into gear straight away with two goals inside the opening 20 minutes to take control.

Wolves had only just survived a scare when Willy Boly corrected his error with an outstretched leg to prevent Vydra shooting as he burst into the box.

And less than 60 seconds later they went behind as the Clarets made their pressure pay.

Matt Lowton had got forward at every opportunity from right-back and when he curled another dangerous ball into the box, Wood turned smartly away from home skipper Conor Coady before lashing a shot across Rui Patricio and into the far corner.

And six minutes later it was 2-0 as the lethal Wood struck again.

Burnley had done a superb job of winning the ball back at almost every opportunity and their pressing around the Wolves’ penalty area paid off again when Dwight McNeil intercepted an attempted pass by Adama Traore to square the ball for Wood to sidefoot home.

The Clarets had led in two of their previous three games and ended up empty-handed, including opening up a 2-0 advantage at Southampton at the start of the losing run which had left them with work to do to kill off any prospect of being dragged closer to the bottom three.

But there was to be no retreating this time as Dyche’s men stayed positive and kept taking the fight to the home side, who had won their last two games but were never allowed to build up any rhythm or given a sniff of goal.

Vydra twice went close to adding to the lead, steering a Charlie Taylor cross over the top and then just over-running the ball at the end of a superb run triggered by Wood’s lay just inside the Wolves’ half.

A flare-up in the Burnley penalty area after Daniel Podence went dramatically to ground then ended with bookings for James Tarkowski and Wolves winger Traore but the Clarets didn’t lose their focus.

And a minute before half-time they deservedly went 3-0 up as Wood completed his hat-trick.

His opening goal of the afternoon had made the New Zealander the Clarets’ all-time leading scorer in the Premier League.

And when he headed home a corner from McNeil - who was very much back to his best - he added his first treble to his impressive Burnley CV to move into double figures for the season.

It had been a near flawless performance which was almost enhanced when Vydra had the ball in the net early in the second half.

A VAR check chalked off the effort for offside but still the Clarets didn’t settle for what they had, Lowton getting forward again to win another tackle and let fly with a skidding low drive which had Patricio at full stretch to turn around the post.

Wood almost got his fourth after Westwood had yet again won back possession to set up the striker for a mazy run which ended with a low shot saved by Patricio.

But while that landmark eluded him, the Clarets’ number-nine was happy to turn provider for a brilliant fourth goal joyously rammed home by Westwood five minutes from the end.

Substitute Jay Rodriguez played a part by as Wolves were bullied into submission once more.

And after Wood then ferried the ball into the path of Westwood, the midfielder crashed home his second goal of the season with a superb first-time strike from the edge of the penalty area to provide a fitting end to a red-letter day in what should now be Burnley’s on-going Premier League history.

Burnley: Pope; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Brownhill, Cork, Westwood, McNeil; Wood, Vydra (Rodriguez 73). Substitutes: Peacock-Farrell, Norris, Gudmundsson, Barnes, Stephens, Pieters, Bardsley, Dunne.

Booked: Tarkowski, Lowton

Wolves: Patricio; Saiss, Coady, Boly; Semedo (Silva 58), Dendoncker, Neves (Vitinha 69), Ait-Nouri; Traore, Willian Jose, Podence (Gibbs-White 69). Substitutes: Ruddy, Hoever, Richards, Kilman, Otasowie, Corbeanu.

Booked: Traore

Referee: Darren England