Mark Noble’s goal, on the rebound from his own penalty, enabled West Ham United to celebrate a Premier League victory for only the third time at their new London Stadium home. All have been by 1-0 margins.
The penalty came in first-half stoppage time when Ben Mee impeded Winston Reid in the act of shooting after a scramble from a corner. Tom Heaton saved Noble’s spot kick but the home captain was first to the rebound.
Yet it could so easily have been a different story as West Ham, who had hit the goal frame twice through Pedro Obiang and Noble, became more and more frantic as the game wore on.
Sam Vokes, Burnley’s Wales forward, was guilty of a glaring miss on the hour, heading over an unguarded net after Darren Randolph had stuck out an arm to deflect Scott Arfield’s shot. The West Ham goalkeeper then pulled off an even better save to keep out Arfield’s free kick.
Slaven Bilic, the West Ham manager, said: “I saw that ‘cramp’ in the second half — when you are afraid of winning — which is quite normal, it happens to most clubs when they are under-achieving. It can only go away with winning.”
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Sean Dyche, the Burnley manager, was convinced the penalty should not have been awarded, claiming that Heaton had been impeded on the line by Michail Antonio seconds before.
“I’m frustrated we can’t get a decision,” Dyche said. “It was a clear foul on Tom Heaton, I don’t know how the ref didn’t see it. Antonio makes a back and doesn’t even look at the ball and barges into him.”
Ratings
West Ham United (4-2-3-1): D Randolph 7 — C Kouyaté 6, W Reid 7, A Ogbonna 6, A Cresswell 7 — M Noble 7 (sub: H Nordtveit 88min), P Obiang 7 — M Antonio 6, M Lanzini 6 (sub: A Ayew 68, 5), D Payet 6 — A Carroll 7 (sub: A Fletcher 82). Substitutes not used: Adrián, E Fernandes, D Quina, M Browne
Burnley (4-4-2): T Heaton 7 — M Lowton 7, M Keane 7, B Mee 7, S Ward 6 — S Arfield 7 (sub: Bamford 90+4), D Marney 6, J Hendrick 6, G Boyd 5 (sub: A Barnes 75) — A Gray 4, S Vokes 7. Substitutes not used: P Robinson, J Flanagan, M Kightly, S Defour, J Tarkowski. Booked: Mee, Hendrick
Referee: R Madley