Wood hands Burnley first win; Wolves hold Saints

Gulf Today Report

Chris Wood helped Burnley broke the win-less jinx with hard-fought 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Monday night.

Burnley, who were second from the bottom in the 20-team league with just two points before the match, moved three places up in the table to climbed out of the relegation zone.

They had not been able to win any of their seven matches and were pegged at the bottom just above Sheffield United, who are still languishing at nadir with eight losses and one draw.

New Zealand striker Wood gave them the 1-0 lead with a first-half strike to end their goal drought in home matches and fetch them first victory of the season.

Palace did try to make some in-roads but failed to penetrate the tight defence of Burnley, who held fast on to their lead and went into defensive mode to make sure that they do not spurn the chance to procure the maiden win.

Palace came closest to restoring parity when Andros Townsend's curling effort forced a fine save from Nick Pope.

Palace were playing sans Ivory Coast forward Wilfried Zaha, who had tested positive for coronavirus and Roy Hodgson's side lacked a cutting edge without him as they slumped to a second defeat in three games.

Burnley, who had managed to score just three league goals since the beginning of the season, ended their four-game goalless run. Their last goal had come on Oct.3 when Ashley Westwood netted in a loss at Newcastle Meanwhile, Southampton’s winning streak of three-game came to an abrupt end after a 1-1 draw against Wolves.

They looked set for another their fourth win on a trot when Theo Walcott put them ahead in the second half.

But Pedro Neto scored an equalizer fifth-placed Saints had to settle for a draw, which extending their unbeaten run to seven matches.