LONDON (Reuters) – West Ham United midfielder Tomas Soucek scored his fifth league goal of the season to cancel out Burnley forward Wout Weghorst’s first-half strike and snatch a 1-1 Premier League draw against their managerless opponents at the London Stadium on Sunday.
Soucek pounced to level the scores after a curling free kick by Manuel Lanzini glanced off Weghorst and into his path in the 74th minute to deny Burnley caretaker Mike Jackson a first win after they sacked long-serving boss Sean Dyche on Friday.
The result also denied 18th-placed Burnley the opportunity to close the gap on Everton above them to one point, heaping the pressure on the team with seven matches left in the season to avoid the drop to the second-tier Championship.
Burnley grabbed the lead shortly after midfielder Ashley Westwood was taken off on a stretcher following a serious right leg injury, as Weghorst rose highest to nod in a rebound after Jay Rodriguez headed on to the crossbar from a corner.
The visitors then squandered an opportunity to double their advantage as Maxwel Cornet dragged his penalty wide following a staggered run-up, having won the spot kick after a challenge by goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski in the box.
Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope ensured that they did not leave London empty-handed, producing two superb late saves to deny Michail Antonio as West Ham pushed hard for a winner.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Macfie)
