LONDON (AP) — Relegation-threatened Burnley earned a 1-1 draw at West Ham in its first match since the shock departure of manager Sean Dyche, but saw Ashley Westwood sustain a bad injury on Sunday.
The Burnley midfielder’s leg seemed to buckle underneath him as he challenged for the ball with Nikola Vlasic.
A stretcher and oxygen were immediately brought on, while Vlasic and Aaron Cresswell, who was closest to the incident, looked distraught and had to be comforted by teammates.
There was a nine-minute delay while Westwood was treated. There was muted joy for Burnley minutes later when Wout Weghorst rose above Tomas Soucek to head in the rebound after Jay Rodriguez’s header came back off the crossbar in the 33rd minute. Weghorst pointed at the bench in support of Westwood.
Burnley should have doubled its lead after Maxwel Cornet was brought down by goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. But after picking himself up, Cornet sent Burnley’s first penalty of the season wide.
Soucek then leveled in the 74th when he bundled in Manuel Lanzini’s free kick with his shoulder.
West Ham came closest to a winner but was denied three times by goalkeeper Nick Pope, who tipped a fierce drive from Michail Antonio over and blocked Issa Diop’s header before thwarting Antonio again in a one-on-one.
Burnley, with under-23 coach Mike Jackson in charge following Dyche’s firing, is now three points behind Everton, which is in 17th place and just out of the relegation zone. Everton has played one less game.
West Ham, which reached the Europa League semifinals on Thursday, is in seventh place.
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The Associated Press