Staff Reporter.
West Ham came from behind to dent managerless Burnley’s hopes of avoiding relegation from the Premier League in a match tainted by Ashley Westwood’s injury.
Both sides started with attacking intent but the game took a turn for the worse when Westwood was stretchered off with a worrying leg injury after what looked like a innocuous challenge with Nikola Vlasic.
Play was stopped for eight minutes with medical staff from both clubs attending to the Burnley midfielder.
No-one was more visibly upset than Vlasic, who dropped to his knees with concern, but the incident appeared to galvanise the lowly visitors.
Three minutes after Westwood’s departure, Burnley scored the opener.
Maxwel Cornet’s header was met by Jay Rodriguez, who could only divert the ball against the crossbar, before Weghorst rose highest to head in the rebound.
Cornet had the chance to double the visitors’ lead after being brought down inside the area by Lukasz Fabianksi, but his poorly hit penalty went wide.
The Clarets dismissed Sean Dyche on Friday but they remained resolute under the interim guidance of Under-23s coach Mike Jackson and injured club captain Ben Mee until Soucek salvaged a draw for the hosts.
The result means Burnley move to within three points of safety, although they have played a game more than 17th-placed Everton, while West Ham remain seventh, five points outside the Champions League places.
Meanwhile Bruno Guimaraes struck deep into stoppage time as Newcastle United came from behind to beat Leicester City and edged a step closer to Premier League survival.
The Brazilian midfielder cancelled out Ademola Lookman’s opener on the half-hour mark before the two sides played out a strangely subdued second half.
But in the five minutes of added time, a low cross by substitute Joe Willock deflected kindly for Guimaraes to snatch the winner with a diving header.
Guimaraes was Newcastle’s first big signing under their new owners, arriving from Lyon in the January transfer window for an initial £35m, and has helped provide the impetus to push the Magpies towards safety.
And despite arriving as a defensive midfielder, the 24-year-old now has three goals from five Premier League starts, and said his winner was the first headed goal of his career.
It made it five straight home wins for Newcastle and they now have 37 points – 12 clear of the relegation zone and three behind ninth-placed Leicester, whose five-game unbeaten run came to a dramatic end.