We round up the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from West Ham United v Burnley in our Scout Notes summary.
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WEGHORST ON TARGET
Burnley began life without Sean Dyche with a point at West Ham after an action-packed encounter in east London.
The Clarets went ahead in the first half through Wout Weghorst (£6.4m) before Maxwel Cornet (£5.9m) missed a penalty, although they were indebted to Nick Pope (£5.4m) for a series of excellent late saves to preserve the point.
For Weghorst, the towering Dutchman had a decent first half and was much more involved than he had been in previous outings, as he ended a run of eight successive blanks by scoring his second Premier League goal.
Under the interim guidance of Under-23s coach Mike Jackson, Burnley set up in a familiar 4-4-2 formation that appeared to favour a more possession-based approach, with Cornet (no 20) particularly advanced down the Clarets’ left.
Above: Burnley’s average position map v West Ham in Gameweek 33
Matthew Lowton (£4.4m), meanwhile, retained his place in the starting XI at right-back ahead of Connor Roberts (£4.4m), who was introduced as a substitute shortly after the hour mark.
“Lowts (Lowton) hasn’t had a lot of game time recently, so he was struggling, and it was a hot day as well. We went like for like with Connor (Roberts). Then they get a goal back and you think ‘are we going to go safe here or do we go for it? We put Vyds (Vydra) on, and he’s coming back after injury, so we went for it rather than sit back.” – Mike Jackson on replacing Matthew Lowton after 62 minutes
Now, focus switches to Thursday’s home clash against Southampton, which forms the second part of both team’s Gameweek 33 double-headers.
“I think it is a good point for us. We did really well in the first half and had the penalty miss. It’s a terrific result and we had the incident with Ash (Westwood) as well which affected the group.
Max (Cornet) had taken the penalty and missed it and we move on. He had another chance later on. These things happen.
It was an amazing save (from Nick Pope). It’s why he plays for England.”
WESTWOOD INJURY LATEST
On the injury front, Burnley are waiting for news on Ashley Westwood (£5.2m), with the midfielder having gone to hospital after sustaining a serious injury in the first-half.
Mike Jackson was unable to confirm the nature of the injury, which saw Westwood require oxygen on the pitch, but it is expected to be a season-ending problem.
“He’s gone to hospital and we’re waiting for an update. We’re hoping he’s OK – our thoughts are with him. You could see it wasn’t good from the reaction of the players. He looked distraught, but fingers crossed.
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. Josh Brownhill came in and has done really well.” – Mike Jackson on Ashley Westwood’s injury
WASTEFUL ANTONIO
Following Sunday’s blank, Michail Antonio (£7.5m) has now gone 13 Premier League games without a goal, his longest drought since he went 14 matches without scoring in 2018.
The Jamaican forward took up some decent positions and caused problems for Burnley’s backline, but was far too wasteful as he failed to hit the net from seven shots which included one ‘big chance’.
The Hammers, who looked a little jaded at times following their Europa League clash on Thursday, were second best for much of the opening 45 minutes but improved after the break, with David Moyes cutting a frustrated figure after full-time.
“Their goalkeeper made a couple of great saves but, in truth, we should have killed the game off. Even the couple near the end, we had great chances to seal it. Maybe you’d say we had a bit of ill-fortune, but we needed a win today and it’s disappointing we didn’t get it.
We need Michail Antonio’s goals because if you’re going to challenge and you want to be at the top, you need to take your opportunities when you make them. Today, we didn’t take our opportunities.
We had a great chance and we’ve not taken it. Today was a great opportunity for us and we’ve let that go. I’m gutted with that and I’ve not got a great deal to say about it.” – David Moyes
West Ham United XI: Fabianski, Johnson, Dawson, Diop, Cresswell, Soucek, Rice, Bowen, Lanzini (Fornals 79), Vlasic (Benrahma 65), Antonio
Burnley XI: Pope, Lowton (Roberts 62), Collins, Tarkowski, Taylor, McNeil (Vydra 79), Westwood (Brownhill 30), Cork, Cornet, Rodriguez, Weghorst
