Stoke 1-1 Burnley: Ashley Barnes equaliser dents Stoke survival bid

Stoke's survival bid was dented on Sunday as they could only draw 1-1 with Burnley in the Premier League at the bet365 Stadium.

Badou Ndiaye opened his Stoke account on 11 minutes with a deflected effort from 20 yards, but Ashley Barnes scrambled home a leveller (62) for his sixth goal in his last eight Premier League games.

Stoke nearly won it with two minutes remaining, but substitute Stephen Ireland's curling effort clipped the outside of the post, while Burnley saw two Johann Gudmundsson efforts saved by Jack Butland at the other end in stoppage time.

The result means Stoke are four points off 17th-place Swansea, who have two games in hand, the first coming at champions Man City in Sunday's later kick-off. Burnley remain seventh, but now four points behind Arsenal.

Stoke took the lead with the first chance of the game as Ndiaye saw his 20-yard effort deflect off the boot of Kevin Long and fall past Nick Pope following unselfish work from Mame Biram Diouf on the edge of the box.

Gudmundsson forced a good save out of Butland with a 25-yard free-kick, but Stoke should have gone into the half 2-0 up as Diouf received Moritz Bauer's cross in space inside the box, but the forward decided to attempt a touch rather than shoot, seeing the ball squirm under his foot.

James Tarkowski nearly equalised, but saw his header from a corner well saved by Butland, but it was 1-1 shortly after as Barnes turned home off his knee after Butland had again saved Tarkowski's header from close range.

There was a late flurry of chances at both ends, with a draw not suiting Stoke; substitute Ireland curled a beauty off the post from 20 yards, while at the other end Gudmundsson saw efforts saved by Butland and curl past the far post.

If Southampton do not win the FA Cup, seventh place would see Burnley compete in Europe for the first time since the 1960s at the Europa League second qualifying round, while Stoke look odds-on to be playing second-tier football next season.

Man of the match - Jack Butland

The England stopper made six saves, four of which were superb, and was unlucky not to keep out Barnes' leveller following a fine star-fish stop Peter Schmeichel would have been proud of.

In the race for Russia, all four goalkeepers are putting in a claim to be Gareth Southgate's No 1.

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The managers

Paul Lambert: "Until it's mathematically impossible for us to do, we'll keep fighting. Football is a tough game, no game is easy, no game is a given, but until someone tells me this fight is over, we'll keep going."

Sean Dyche: "I'm very pleased with the mentality, very pleased with the play. I think we're beginning to find a different way of playing which can be more effective. Definitely we're scoring more goals recently, creating more chances."

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Opta stats

• Stoke have now gone 11 league games without a win (D6 L5), their joint-longest ever run without a victory in the Premier League having also gone 11 matches without winning between April and September 2012.
• Paul Lambert has now failed to win all of his five league meetings with Burnley as a manager (D3 L2). Only against Everton (eight) and Manchester United (seven) has he taken charge of more games in the top four tiers of English football without ever earning a victory.
• Burnley have lost only two of the last seven Premier League games in which they have conceded the first goal (W2 D3), having lost each of the seven beforehand.
• Burnley have only kept one clean sheet in 15 league games in 2018; only Brighton (none) have kept fewer in the Premier League this calendar year so far.

What's next?

Stoke now go to Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime in the Premier League, live on Sky Sports Premier League, while Burnley host Brighton at 3pm on Saturday.

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