Preview: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Burnley
On the back of ending their horrific home hoodoo, Burnley return to the road to take on Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux in the Premier League on Tuesday evening.
Vincent Kompany’s side produced a five-star performance to crush Sheffield United 5-0 over the weekend, while the hosts were narrowly defeated 2-1 by Arsenal.
Fast starts have traditionally been difficult to come by for Arsenal in the 2023-24 campaign, but the Gunners exploded out of the blocks when Wolves made the trip to their Emirates headquarters on Saturday, going 2-0 up inside 13 minutes thanks to Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard’s strikes.
However, as Mikel Arteta’s men squandered numerous chances to put the game to bed, Matheus Cunha capitalised on a defensive lapse to reduce the arrears in the second half, forcing Arsenal to adopt a backs-against-the-wall approach in the closing stages.
The league leaders’ defensive efforts would ultimately pay dividends in a hard-fought win, but after watching his troupe hand Arsenal a few scares in North London, O’Neil was able to reflect on the positives of Saturday’s performance while also having a pop at the Gunners for perceived time-wasting.
Despite the praiseworthy manner of their performance, the form chart makes for rather grim reading for the hosts, who have now been beaten in three of their last four Premier League matches to slip down to 13th spot, and they could be dragged closer to the dotted line depending on results on Sunday.
Goalmouth action is guaranteed when O’Neil’s men take to the field these days, as Saturday’s loss at the Emirates marked the 12th game in a row where Wolves have both scored and conceded, and on a much-needed positive note, the hosts have navigated their last four home games in the top flight without defeat.
In contrast, home defeats was hitherto the only dish on the Turf Moor menu for Burnley, who had fallen to a record-breaking seven successive losses from their first seven home matches of the Premier League season before relegation rivals Sheffield United paid a visit.
The clash with the lowly Blades would ostensibly offer the Clarets a prime opportunity to at least put one point on the board, but Kompany’s men ran riot against Paul Heckingbottom’s beleaguered charges, who conceded to Jay Rodriguez straight from kickoff.
Jacob Bruun Larsen, Zeki Amdouni, Luca Koleosho and Josh Brownhill also contributed to the Lancashire lashing against Sheffield United, who had Oli McBurnie sent off for good measure, allowing Burnley to relieve some of the pressure on their manager’s shoulders while potentially driving another nail into Heckingbottom’s coffin.
The Clarets remain deep in relegation trouble in 19th place despite that success, which ended a run of seven straight defeats across all competitions, but they are level on points with Everton and only have a two-point disadvantage to make up to Luton Town at this juncture.
Thanks to their stellar Championship exploits, Burnley head to Molineux having gone unbeaten in their last 17 midweek league matches and have also avoided defeat in each of their last seven Premier League meetings with Wolves, whose last success over the Clarets came in September 2018 thanks to a Raul Jimenez effort.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Premier League form:
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Burnley Premier League form:
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Burnley form (all competitions):
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We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Burnley
The morale in the Burnley camp may be at its peak right now, and the Clarets have also had Wolves’ number in Premier League fixtures gone by, but O’Neil’s side are proving a tough nut to crack on the Molineux turf.
Wolves emerged from their loss to Arsenal with their heads held high too, and while a clean sheet may continue to elude the hosts, we can still envisage them bringing Burnley crashing back down to earth.