Burnley have now gone 175 days without winning at home in the Premier League after going down to a narrow defeat to Brighton.
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Mats Wieffer’s double proved to be the difference in this cagey encounter, where the Clarets were left to rue two tight offside calls.
Both Jaidon Anthony and Bashir Humphreys had the ball in the back of the net for Scott Parker’s side, only to be denied by the tightest of margins on both occasions.
It was otherwise a similar story for Burnley, who played okay but once again lacked the quality to get anything from the game.
Now trailing safety by 12 points with six games left, relegation is now an inevitability off the back of a miserable run of just one win in their last 23 league games.
Their woes have been particularly stark at Turf Moor, where they’ve not won in the league since edging past Leeds United back in October.
Scott Parker rang the changes – with a big name among those to be surprisingly dropped.
Mats Wieffer scored both of Brighton's goals (Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)placeholder image
Mats Wieffer scored both of Brighton's goals (Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)
Kyle Walker was only named on the bench off the back of Burnley’s 3-1 defeat to Fulham prior to the three-week break.
It’s understood the 35-year-old doesn’t have any fitness issues and the dropping was selection based only.
Bashir Humphreys shifted over to right-back, as Parker made four changes to the team that squandered the lead at Craven Cottage to lose last month.
Hjalmar Ekdal came into the backline to make his first league start since the reverse game against Brighton at the start of January, while Florentino Luis, Lesley Ugochukwu and Marcus Edwards all started.
Josh Laurent missed out through suspension after his red against Fulham, while Hannibal dropped out after suffering a hamstring injury last time out.
Lyle Foster, meanwhile, dropped down to the bench following a run of below-par displays on the right flank.
Axel Tuanzebe remains sidelined despite his return from an Achilles injury for DR Congo during the international break as he steps up his return to full match fitness.
Jordan Beyer, Connor Roberts, Josh Cullen and Zeki Amdouni all remain out.
As for Brighton, they made two changes from their 2-1 win over Liverpool before the break as Lewis Dunk (suspended) and James Milner made way for Olivier Boscagli and Yasin Arayi.
The unpredictable weather conditions made for a testing start, with the rain and swirling wind making things difficult.
Ekdal produced some early work for his goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, side-footing a passback back at head height, but Dubravka did well to head it away from danger for a throw.
Yankuba Minteh caused some early problems for the makeshift right-back Humphreys, the winger getting the wrong side of the Burnley man before delivering a pinpoint cross for Danny Welbeck. The ex-Manchester United man dug his effort out into the turf and up towards the far corner, but Dubravka was able to claim.
Burnley had the ball in the back of the net with their first attack moments later when Jaidon Anthony drilled low across the goalkeeper, only to be met by the linesman’s offside flag. Replays showed it to be another shirt sleeve job.
The Clarets then threatened from two successive corners, as Lesley Ugochukwu was denied with a clever flick at the near post before Zian Flemming steered wide from the resulting delivery.
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Brighton weren’t offering a great deal, but when they did threaten it invariably came down their left flank - Burnley’s right - as they continued to target Humphreys.
The hosts were undone down that side once again by a simple throw-in, but fortunately for the Clarets Minteh fluffed his lines six yards out after Jack Hinshelwood had pulled the ball back to him.
Burnley were so fortunate to survive without conceding after Dubravka’s horror kick out of his hands, but fortunately for them Minteh took too long with his shot before Welbeck trickled just wide of the upright.
At the other end, Burnley weren’t able to capitalise on some poor goalkeeping from former transfer target Bart Verbruggen, who failed to claim a Ward-Prowse corner. But no player in claret was able to turn the ball home.
Referee Tom Bramall wasn’t making himself particularly popular with the Burnley fans, having handed out a harsh yellow card to Maxime Esteve after a clean challenge before bringing back play after Jack Hinshelwood had gone down holding his head, only for the Brighton man to immediately get up.
The official did ignore a penalty appeal four minutes before the break though, when Welbeck went down in the box after getting the wrong side of Ekdal.
Brighton’s ire didn’t last long though, because three minutes later they took the lead with a really poor goal from Burnley’s perspective.
Given the way the game had panned out, it was no surprise whatsoever the goal came from a cross down Burnley’s right. Pascal Gross the man to pick out Mats Wieffer, who coasted in unchallenged from the opposite side to steer home from 10 yards out.
Things could have got even worse for the Clarets before the half was up, but Ekdal pulled off an important challenge to deny Brighton a second as he hooked his leg to deny Welbeck from just two yards out.
The second half began in a similar fashion to the first, with Burnley having another ‘goal’ ruled out for offside.
This time Humphreys was the man denied after the denied lashed home from close range after Verbruggen could only fumble James Ward-Prowse’s inswinging free-kick straight to the defender.
But the linesman quickly raised his flag and VAR backed up the decision, with Humphreys ruled offside by a tiny margin of his knee cap.
Burnley were at least showing a little something since the restart, as they went close through Zian Flemming who was denied on the turn by a smart Verbruggen stop with his legs.
Nevertheless, the Clarets needed Dubravka to make an important one-handed save to stay in the game after Quilindschy Hartman had wastefully given the ball away in a poor area, but the Slovakian was equal to Hinshelwood’s low effort.
Parker turned to the bench midway through the second half as the Clarets looked to get back on level terms, with Lesley Ugochukwu making way for Jacob Bruun Larsen.
But the change made little difference, with Bruun Larsen failing to pick out a Burnley teammate despite being played into good crossing positions twice in quick succession.
Mike Tresor soon arrived in place of Marcus Edwards to big cheers from the home faithful as he made his return from an ankle injury that has kept him out since the end of 2025.
With 10 minutes remaining, Verbruggen pulled off another smart save, this time getting down to his right to turn Flemming’s low drive around the post.
All that was left was for Brighton to make sure of the points with a second in the 89th minute – and once again Wieffer was the man to get it, the defender slamming home from the edge of the box after Burnley had failed to clear their lines.
That was the que for the vast majority of the Burnley fans to head for the exits, leaving a sparsely populated Turf Moor to greet yet another home defeat.
TEAMS
Burnley: Dubravka, Humphreys (Walker), Ekdal, Esteve, Hartman (Pires), Florentino (Broja), Ward-Prowse, Ugochukwu (Bruun Larsen), Edwards (Tresor), Anthony, Flemming
Subs not used: Weiss, Worrall, Tchaouna, Foster
Brighton: Verbruggen, Wieffer, van Hecke, Kadioglu, Boscagli, Gross, Hinshelwood (Baleba), Ayari, Gomez (Veltman), Minteh (Mitoma), Welbeck (Rutter)
Subs not used: Steele, Igor, March, Kostoulas, De Cuyper
Referee: Tom Bramall
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