Burnley have become sadly accustomed to setbacks at Turf Moor this season but West Ham’s smash and grab win here was especially cruel.
Vincent Kompany’s side have led Tottenham and Chelsea here, and more than matched Manchester United. Here, they were clearly superior for 80 minutes and seemingly on course for a first home success since their Premier League return.
But, somehow, they still lost. Their seventh home reverse this season, which kept them below penalised Everton at the foot of the table, assumed historically bad proportions.
They became only the second team in Football League history after Newport County in 1970-71 to lose their opening seven home matches from the start of a campaign.
And they have now suffered six consecutive top-flight defeats for the first time since December 1895.
Leading courtesy of Jay Rodriguez’s penalty early in the second-half, all Burnley had to do was cling on. They just couldn’t do it.
Four minutes from time, as West Ham exerted their first real pressure of the whole game, a cross from Mohammed Kudus brushed in off the unfortunate Dara O’Shea.
The teenage substitute Divin Mubama thought he had the goal but replays showed a deflection off the Burnley defender.
Worse was to follow as stoppage time began. It was Kudus again who supplied the service from the right side and Tomas Soucek, at the back stick, crashed home West Ham’s unlikely winner.
For Burnley, next weekend’s home clash with Sheffield United assumes must-win proportions. As does their game with Everton on December 16. They simply cannot afford to lose either.
The visitors were clearly second best in the opening 45. They struggled to string any moves of note together, lacking the invention to break Burnley down.
Yet the struggling hosts couldn’t capitalise on their superiority despite West Ham’s raggedness allowing them several openings.
Burnley’s first salvo came five minutes in when Johann Gudmundsson took aim following a partially-cleared corner, but it was straight at Alphonse Areola.
Jay Rodriguez flashed an inviting low ball across West Ham’s penalty box in search of Zeki Amdouni, who couldn’t quite get the contact.
It took almost half-an-hour for either goalkeeper to be properly tested. After Nayef Aguerd failed to get enough purchase on a clearance, Koleosho forced a save from Areola at his near post.
With West Ham seemingly eager to invite trouble, Sander Berge was allowed to cross after combining down the right with Vitinho, only for Amdouni to glance his header wide.
Six minutes before half-time, the home fans screamed for a penalty when Koleosho drove into the West Ham box and then cut left past Vladimir Coufal before collapsing to the ground.
Referee Sam Barrott had a good line of sight and pointed for a goal kick after the ball ran out.
There was debate over whether Coufal had moved his leg towards Koleosho or whether the Burnley man was seeking the contact, but VAR Craig Pawson agreed with the on-field call.
But there was no hesitation just a few moments after the restart when Koleosho again caused chaos for the West Ham defence, cutting into their box before Mohammed Kudus clipped his heel.
Rodriguez made no mistake, coolly dispatching his penalty down the middle as Areola dived to his left. It was his first top-flight goal since April 2022.
The goal did spark West Ham belatedly into life. James Trafford, who’d done very little, was forced to punch clear under pressure from a corner before Lucas Paqueta blazed wastefully over.
But Amdouni almost doubled Burnley’s lead with a low strike to the near post that Areola had to turn aside. From the corner, Dara O’Shea twisted his neck but headed over.
On then counter, the freshly-introduced Aaron Ramsey couldn’t get his angled shot on target after Rodriguez sprung him free.
West Ham did begin to mount some pressure in the final 10 minutes, with. Substitute Said Benrahma curling an effort not too far wide.
And the pressure would tell in the most heart-breaking of circumstances for Burnley.