Burnley move to within point of Premier League safety with win over Southampton

Managerless Burnley moved to within a point of Premier League safety as first-half goals from defenders Connor Roberts and Nathan Collins delivered a 2-0 win over Southampton.

Playing their first home game since the shock sacking of Sean Dyche last Friday, Burnley breathed new life into their survival bid as they secured back-to-back home wins for the first time since December 2020 and made it four points from six under caretaker boss Mike Jackson.

The win, only their fourth in 25 at Turf Moor, lifts the Clarets to within touching distance of Everton, albeit having played a game more.

The great escape could yet still be on, and were it to come, Alan Pace would claim vindication for his decision to end Dyche’s almost decade-long tenure last Friday.

Across from Turf Moor, the Royal Dyche pub displayed a message branding the move a “joke” and pledging not to change its name, while Pace used his program notes to say the decision was “not taken lightly at all” and that Dyche will “rightly be regarded as a true Clarets legend”.

But inside the ground the focus was firmly on the fight against the drop. There were no chants for Dyche until the 87th minute, no anger directed at Pace in the directors’ box, just fulsome backing for the team.

The fans would be rewarded with one of Burnley’s better displays of the season. There has been no tactical revolution under Jackson but the Clarets were playing like they had received and understood the “jolt” he described Dyche’s sacking as providing.

It perhaps helped they were playing against a Southampton side in poor form, having won only three of 16 away league games all season and winless in five before a 1-0 home victory over Arsenal at the weekend which came despite having only 24 per