Matt Scrafton's verdict on Burnley's 3-2 defeat to West Ham
Callum Wilson scored his eighth career goal against Burnley to help West Ham to a 3-2 win on Saturday.
The Clarets took the lead in the 35th minute at the London Stadium through Zian Flemming, but were pegged back just before half-time as Wilson netted his eighth career goal against this particular opponent.
Tomas Soucek and Kyle Walker-Peters sealed the result for West Ham in the second half, despite a late consolation from Josh Cullen. As a result, the Hammers have drawn level with Burnley on 10 points, though Scott Parker’s men remain just outside the relegation zone on goal difference.
Callum Wilson reflects on latest goal vs Burnley
Saturday’s strike for Wilson sees Burnley draw level with Everton as the teams to have suffered the second-most at his hands across the striker’s career so far.
Ironically, the only team Wilson has scored more goals against is West Ham, breaching their defence 12 times before joining them on a free transfer from Newcastle United this summer.
Regardless, Burnley fans are sick of the sight of the England international, who has now scored in each of his last four appearances against the Clarets, and has netted seven of his eight goals against them across his last six meetings.
But for his part, Wilson isn’t concerned with who he’s playing against on any given week, instead focusing on scoring as many goals as he can, against whoever is in front of him.
"It was a big game, we knew the magnitude of it. And going behind wasn't ideal. But we've started sticking together as a group more, and being a team. We've done that last week and shown that again this week,” Wilson told BBC Match of the Day after Saturday’s match.
"Any opposition you're put in front of, you do try and score, you don't try harder with different opposition. It just so happens I've got a good record against these guys.”
On how the game played out, Wilson added: "They were playing a lot of long balls and winning second balls. Once we came to terms with that we were able to build. We made a few changes, and the guys that came on got on the scoresheet.
"It's a start, we know it's a process. We've not had the best of starts to the season. It wasn't pretty today by any means, but a win is a win. This is something to go on from."
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What next for Burnley?
Burnley will now reflect as we head into the final international break of the season, having suffered back-to-back defeats against Arsenal and West Ham.
However, things don’t get any easier once domestic action returns in a couple of weeks, with Burnley hosting second-place Chelsea and travelling to Brentford, before equally challenging encounters at home to Crystal Palace and away at Newcastle United.
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