Leaders Burnley ease to victory at Norwich

Posted Saturday, February 04, 2023 by PA

Burnley marched on at the top of the Championship as they swept aside Norwich 3-0 at Carrow Road.

Vincent Kompany’s side produced another impressive display to make it nine league wins on the trot and move, temporarily at least, 20 points clear of third-placed Middlesbrough.

Anass Zaroury took advantage of a horrible error from goalkeeper Tim Krul to open the scoring in the eighth minute and two goals from corners early in the second half completed the scoring.

The first was turned in by substitute Vitinho with his very first touch while defender Hjalmar Ekdal added the other.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Norwich, who had won their first two league games under new head coach David Wagner, but they remain well-placed to challenge for a place in the play-offs with automatic promotion now surely beyond them.

The leaders dominated the early stages and almost took the lead on four minutes when Nathan Tella caught Kenny McLean in possession and fired in a shot that Grant Hanley did well to block.

Norwich had gifted the visitors that chance and when they did it again four minutes later, there was to be no lucky escape for the hosts.

This time Krul was the culprit, inexplicably passing the ball straight to Zaroury after the same player had curled an effort just wide.

The Moroccan World Cup player must have been as surprised as everyone in the ground when the ball fell at his feet but he kept his composure to slide the ball home.

Apart from a couple of long-range efforts from Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Ian Maatsen that were comfortably saved, Burnley were kept at arm’s length by a Norwich side who grew in confidence as the half progressed.

It took a superb reflex save from Bailey Peacock-Farrell to deny Kieran Dowell after Teemu Pukki’s cutback had given the midfielder a clear sight of goal while Hanley was only narrowly off target with a header from a corner just before the break.

Norwich looked bright in the early stages of the second half only to be stunned by a second Burnley goal against the run of play, with Vitinho making an immediate impact from the bench.

The Brazilian was introduced in the 54th minute after the man he replaced, Tella, had won a corner and promptly headed home Gudmundsson’s pin-point delivery at the near post.

The Clarets won another corner just before the hour mark – and again made it count to move three ahead.

This time Gudmundsson’s delivery from the right was deep and the ball fell nicely for Maatsen, who steered it back across goal for Ekdal to stab home from close range.

It was another soft goal to concede for Norwich, who responded well and had good shouts for a penalty turned down when Ashley Barnes clearly blocked a cross in the area with his outstretched arm.

But they struggled to create any clear-cut openings and Maatsen’s late piledriver which drew a decent save out of Krul was the closest the big crowd came to seeing another goal.