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Ashley Westwood's sickening leg injury overshadows Burnley's draw at West Ham
The match, Burnley's first since Sean Dyche's shock departure, was stopped for several minutes after the injury suffered by the midfielder
A sickening injury to midfielder Ashley Westwood overshadowed a battling draw for managerless Burnley who, with more luck, might have emerged with a victory in their fight to avoid relegation.
The 32-year-old suffered a suspected dislocated and fractured ankle after an innocuous challenge with West Ham forward Nikola Vlasic.
England midfielder Declan Rice quickly alerted medics, while Vlasic and Aaron Cresswell looked distraught as they realised the severity of the injury.
Westwood was given oxygen during nine minutes of treatment on the pitch before being placed in an ambulance and taken to hospital.
“We’re hoping he’s OK, our thoughts are with him,” said Burnley’s interim manager Michael Jackson, who was taking charge of his first game following the shock sacking of Sean Dyche on Friday.
“You could see it wasn’t good from the reaction of the players. When you see Declan Rice come over and say it’s not good, you know it’s not.
“The lad himself put his hand up, and he doesn’t usually go down. It could be the end of his season, but there is a squad here ready to play.”
The injury, if anything, spurred on Burnley, who took the lead through a Wout Weghorst header moments after Westwood had gone off. But Maxwel Cornet missed a penalty to double the lead in first-half stoppage time and instead they were pegged back by Tomas Soucek’s bundled finish in the 74th minute.
In the end Burnley were hanging, with goalkeeper Nick Pope twice denying Michail Antonio and pulling off a stunning save to keep out an Issa Diop header. A point may not be enough in the relegation battle for Burnley, but they have home games left against Southampton, Aston Villa, Wolves and Newcastle, as well as a trip to fellow strugglers Watford. To borrow a recent quote from Pope: “We’re not f-----g dead yet!”
The decision by the club’s owner, Alan Pace, to sack Dyche, and the timing of it, has mystified many and Jackson did not reveal any more than was in the club’s statement.
“I’m not really looking further forward than today so I don’t want to comment,” Jackson said. “When it’s ready to be said, I’m sure the board and the chairman will give the information the supporters want.”
A downcast West Ham manager, David Moyes, reflected: “For us today the result was everything.
“It was a great chance for us and we didn’t take it. I thought before the incident with Ashley Westwood we got a bit of rhythm but the stoppages didn’t help us.
“By the end we had probably done just about enough to deserve the victory,” added Moyes who then shared his bemusement at Dyche’s departure.
“I was really surprised. With this amount of games to go, he knows the teams, he knows the league – but that’s why I’m not the owner of a football team.”
Pope’s masterclass began in the 12th minute with a fine save to deny Jarrod Bowen. After a long stoppage following the challenge that left Westwood writhing on the floor in agony and Vlasic in tears, the mood was understandably flat and it was Burnley who seized the initiative to take the lead. Jay Rodriguez headed Cornet’s corner against the bar before Weghorst used all of his height to tower above everyone and nod in the rebound.
West Ham were flat and should have been further behind by half-time after Burnley were awarded a penalty when Cornet latched on to Josh Brownhill’s pass and was fouled by Lukasz Fabianski as he skipped round him. Cornet took the penalty himself but skewed it wide.
West Ham inevitably emerged with more purpose in the second half but Antonio, who has not scored in the league since New Year’s Day, headed off target from Ben Johnson’s cross when well placed.
Rodriguez missed a good chance to put Burnley further ahead, side-footing wide of the far post when he ought to have hit the target.
He would regret it a few minutes later when Soucek scored with his shoulder from Manuel Lanzini’s free-kick to set up a tense final 15 minutes. Three minutes from time, Rice found Antonio and the striker’s shot was tipped over by Pope, leading to a flurry of corners – from one of which Diop was denied by a magnificent full-stretch save by Burnley’s goalkeeper.
Moments later he raced from his line to smother Antonio’s effort and earn Burnley a draw.