West Ham woes continue with 3-0 loss at Burnley

By Simon Evans

BURNLEY, England (Reuters) - West Ham United's winless streak in the Premier League extended to six games as they suffered a 3-0 defeat by a Burnley side inspired by talented teenage winger Dwight McNeil on Saturday.

Burnley, who had lost their last three matches, went ahead in the 11th minute when McNeil swung in a deep corner, James Tarkowski snuck round the back and headed to Ashley Barnes who poked home.

The Clarets thought they had a second in the 36th minute when McNeil whipped in a superb cross which Chris Wood met with a thundering header but to the anger of the home crowd, the VAR review found evidence of off-side.

Burnley did double their lead a minute before the break, and it was no surprise that McNeil was again the provider.

A throw out from West Ham's shaky Spanish keeper Roberto Jimenez to defender Fabian Balbuena was intercepted by the Burnley winger who burst forward before delivering a low cross which was expertly turned in by Wood.

Jimenez was at fault again for the third in the 54th minute, flapping at an Ashley Westwood corner which he managed to punch into his own net.

But the Spanish keeper did well to ensure that Burnley did not add to the punishment with a series of fine saves as Sean Dyche's side threatened to run rampant.

West Ham's troubles were compounded by the loss of Mark Noble and Manuel Lanzini to injury and midfielder Declan Rice conceded they had been clearly second best.

"We were bullied all over the pitch," said the England international. "Burnley were winning everything. It is not good enough.

“There is a real buzz around the place during the week but it when it gets to the game and we go 1-0 down our heads drop. We need to do the basics – the simple five-yard passing, the tackling," he said.

Alarm bells had been ringing among Burnley fans after last week's 3-0 loss at Sheffield United but Dyche said his players had given the perfect response.

"That was our alter ego - last week we weren’t even close to a performance. We were way off our mark. Today it came flooding back in, The edge we played with, the organisation, the shape and belief," he said.

"I think our performances levels have been generally good, we had a blip last weekend, which has fortunately proved to be a blip, but the players’ mentality was spot on and last week it wasn’t

"Today we’ve delivered and got what we deserved," Dyche added.

(Reporting by Simon Evans, editing by Pritha Sarkar and Ed Osmond)