Sean Dyche celebrates Burnley milestone with win over Newcastle

Burnley moved up to seventh place in the Premier League table with a 1-0 win over Newcastle at Turf Moor.

On the fifth anniversary of his tenure as Claret’s boss, Sean Dyche oversaw a low-quality defensive battle with few attacking chances from either side. Jeff Hendrick provided Burnley’s fifth home win of 2017 with an incisive close-range effort in the 74th minute.

In a bid to find a rare home league goal, Burnley peppered the box with crosses in the first half. However, aerial efforts from Jack Cork, Robbie Brady and Johan Gudmundsson were routinely collected by Rob Elliot.

Newcastle, meanwhile, failed to penetrate the Burnley area, managing just one touch inside the box in the first half. Jonjo Shelvey—whose distribution was excellent throughout—came close with a blocked shot and Christian Atsu couldn’t keep his shot down on the edge of the six-yard box when he had a chance to open the scoring after 11 minutes.

Going forward, the visitors clearly missed Mikel Merino and Aleksandr Mitrovic, neither of whom made Rafa Benitez’s squad.

Save for an Ayoze Perez curled long-shot, chances were few and far between in the second half. The breakthrough finally came around fifteen minutes from time, when Gudmundsson picked out Jeff Hendrick in space in the six-yard box. The Irishman rifled the ball into the net for Burnley’s third home goal of the season.

The result allowed Burnley to leapfrog their opponents in the Premier League table, going even on points with Liverpool in seventh place.

It was The Clarets’ fifth home win of 2017—all of those games finished 1-0.

Since taking over a struggling Championship side five years ago, Dyche's reputation has put him in the conversation for bigger jobs - most recently Everton. Will he still be at Burnley next season? Will the England job come calling after the World Cup?

Few players stood out in one of the less captivating games of the season, but Shelvey's distribution was excellent throughout.

Burnley: Pope 8, Lowton 8, Tarkowski 8, Mee 8, Ward 7, Brady 7, Cork 8, Hendrick 7, Defour 6, Barnes 6, Gudmundsson 8. Subs: Westwood 5

Newcastle: Elliot 7, Yedlin 6, Lejeune 7, Lascelles 6, Manquillo 6, Ritchie 5, Shelvey 8, Diame 5, Atsu 7, Perez 7, Joselu 7. Subs: Hayden 6, Murphy 6, Gayle 6.

11 - CHANCE: Atsu wins a corner and Burnley fail to deal with the danger when it comes in and Atsu puts a shot from the edge of the six-yard box over the bar. He should have done better.

17 - CHANCE: Atsu cuts in from the left and picks out Shelvey on the edge of the area, who releases a right-footed rocket straight at Pope.

51 - CHANCE: Perez's curling shot from outside the box is parried wide by Pope. Ritchie's cross from the resultant corner goes out of play.

74 - GOAL: After an attempt on goal by Cork, Gudmudsson passes to Hendrick on the edge of the six-yard box in space. He takes a touch and puts it into the roof of the net. Finally a breakthrough!