Not happy.
The Result:
Burnley 0, Norwich City 0
How It Happened:
Physically. Seven yellow cards (Burnley got five, proud of you guys, also good job not getting red cards keep that streak alive). Some good chances, but no goals, and not as many good chances as you’d want against Norwich.
What It Means:
With Newcastle losing, Burnley at least climbed a spot in the table, and with Southampton losing, the lads are just one point shy of being out of the relegation zone. Relegation probability, per FiveThirtyEight, is now up to 44%.
What’s Next:
We’ve got an international break now (forgot to tell you guys, but Nick Pope’s not on the England squad), and then after that it’s Man City on the 16th, which we of course don’t love to see.
Other News:
Ben Mee was unexpectedly out of the lineup, but Nathan Collins was unexpectedly ready to go in his place.
In partner club land, Ayr United lost 4-0, Portadown got a big 3-2 win after trailing 2-0, and Llandudno appears to have won 2-1. Good work, friends.
Thoughts:
44% is still less than 50%, and being within one game of at worst 16th place and possibly 15th after this round of play isn’t terrible. It’s still disappointing to miss that opportunity, though, and it was especially disappointing that Burnley didn’t outplay Norwich by much. The expected goals gap was either just 0.3 or 0.7, depending which metric you use.
Looking past Man City, the guys go to Southampton on the 23rd and host Brentford on the 30th, so the month could still bear some fruit, but it feels like a realistic best-case is just four more points on the month, which would leave the lads with just seven points through ten matches, three points off the point-per-match pace that’s a solid benchmark for avoiding relegation. Maybe by the end of December the ship will be righted.
