Burnley lose ground in relegation fight after draw with Wolves

Updated: Apr 2, 2024, 10:57 pm

Burnley's hopes of Premier League survival were dealt another blow despite a brilliant strike by Jacob Bruun Larsen as Wolverhampton Wanderers fought back from a goal down to draw 1-1 at Turf Moor on Tuesday.

Nottingham Forest's 3-1 win over Fulham earlier in the evening means that they are in 17th place on 25 points, three ahead of Luton Town in 18th spot and six ahead of second-from-bottom Burnley, while Wolves are 10th on 42 points.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

Burnley went ahead in the 37th minute through Bruun Larsen, who met a deep cross on the right from Dara O'Shea with a stunning volley with his instep that flew past the helpless Jose Sa in the Wolves goal.

However, Wolves levelled in first-half stoppage time as Rayan Ait-Nouri was left completely unmarked in the box to send a powerful downward header from Pablo Sarabia's free kick bouncing into the net to secure a point.

Ait-Nouri should have had a second for Wolves in the 53rd minute when he latched on to a long ball through the middle, but he blasted his shot straight at the keeper.

Five minutes later fellow goalscorer Bruun Larsen also spurned a decent chance to grab his second, and Wilson Odobert forced another fine save from Sa when he blasted a shot through a crowd of players that the keeper did well to push away.

Despite some excellent attacking play, Burnley's defence was found wanting again as Mario Lemina was left unmarked in the middle, but he headed his effort just wide in the 86th minute.

Burnley substitute Jay Rodriguez had the ball in the net two minutes later, but he had strayed offside and the goal was chalked off, and he failed to connect with an effort from Manuel Benson that whistled just wide as the game finished 1-1.

The draw stretched Burnley's streak to four league games unbeaten, and manager Vincent Kompany was lyrical about his team's effort.

"Absolutely fantastic performance from the team -- so much energy, blood, sweat, tears at times, definitely the kind of Burnley we wanted to see today," he told Sky Sports.

Wolves boss Gary O'Neil was happy with his side's performance.

"Probably a fair result on the balance of play. The first half it took us a while to get to grips with them. I thought in the second half we were much more comfortable and looked really threatening," O'Neil told the BBC.