Express & Star

Wolves v Burnley: The last five meetings

Wolves host Burnley in the Premier League this Sunday, hoping to build on their positive start to the season, which sees them unbeaten domestically and in Europe too.

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Nuno Espirito Santo's side face the challenge of recovering from their superb 3-2 win against Torino on Thursday evening in time for Sunday's clash.

Their visitors Burnley have enjoyed a positive start to the season themselves, despite a narrow defeat at Arsenal last time out.

The Clarets opened their season with an impressive 3-0 victory over Southampton, and will look to repeat their strong domestic campaign of 2017/18.

In the build up to their meeting, Richard Fletcher looks back at the previous five encounters between the two sides.

Burnley 2 Wolves 0 - 30 March 2019

Diogo Jota of Wolverhampton Wanderers and James Tarkowski of Burnley (AMA)

With Burnley battling for Premier League survival, and Wolves having one eye on their upcoming FA Cup Semi-Final with Watford, Nuno's side could be forgiven for a rare Premier League no show in Spring 2019.

In what had been an impressive campaign for the Molineux side, this was a somewhat lacklustre performance, which Sean Dyche's Burnley took full advantage of.

Burnley's youngster Dwight McNeil certainly caught the eye, setting up the early opener, and then sealing victory with a superb solo strike as the hosts ended a run of four straight defeats and moved five points clear of the relegation zone.

Burnley led inside 90 seconds when Chris Wood's shot from a tight angle hit the post before going in off Wolves captain Conor Coady.

A hard-fought match produced few clear-cut chances and could have swung in the direction of either side - but a moment of brilliance from McNeil sealed a potentially crucial win for the home side at a jubilant Turf Moor.

The forward maintained his composure in the Wolves box - in a rare opportunity for the hosts in the second half - to precisely drill into the bottom-right corner.

Wolves 1 Burnley 0 - 16 September 2018

Raul Jimenez of Wolverhampton Wanderers celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 1-0 (AMA)

Wolves continued their good start in returning to the Premier League, with a dominant display over a woeful Burnley side, wo were lucky to escape Molineux with just a1-0 defeat.

Wolves dominated large periods of the first half, and Raul Jimenez deservedly opened the scoring on the hour mark as he turned in Matt Doherty's cross.

The visitors rarely threatened, with the only real chances they created falling to Johann Berg Gudmundsson late on.

Defeat for the Clarets meant they equalled a club record run of four consecutive Premier League losses sitting bottom of the Premier League table, whilst promoted Wolves climbed to ninth.

Burnley 1 Wolves 1 - 19 March 2016

Wolves, drifting in mid-table, travelled to league leaders Burnley in Spring 2016, hoping to prevent the Clarets achieving a seventh successive league win.

They managed to do so with Wolves captain Danny Batth heading a stoppage-time equaliser at Turf Moor to deny the Championship leaders victory.

Sam Vokes looked to have scored the winning goal against his former club before Batth's intervention from Nathan Byrne's corner earned a deserved point.

The hosts had failed to register a shot on target until Wales striker Vokes headed in Joey Barton's cross.

His goal came after Jack Price struck the post for Wolves from 30 yards.

Wolves 0 Burnley 0 - 7 November 2015

In November 2015, Burnley extended their unbeaten Championship run to seven games after battling to a goalless draw at Molineux.

Both sides had first-half chances, with Wolves keeper Emiliano Martinez twice saving from Andre Gray, while Burnley's Tom Heaton denied Benik Afobe.

Afobe fired a clear chance narrowly off target after the break and James Henry curled wide late on.

George Boyd also went close for the Clarets but both sides had to settle for a point.

The draw was the first in 15 league meetings between the two sides at Molineux since August 1976, with Burnley's point meaning they had now picked up 17 points from a possible 21, while Wolves remained out of form having won only once in six games.

Wolves 1 Burnley 2 - 27 April 2013

Wolves Stephen Ward holds his head as Burnley players turn away to celebrate their second goal (PA)

Off the field trouble over-shadowed this meeting between the two sides, as Wolves were left on the brink of relegation to League One.

Following the defeat, a mass of Wolves supporters invaded the pitch voicing their displeasure with the ownership of the club.

They were eventually restrained and returned to their seats, however the mood was toxic within the stadium as Wolves looked certain for back to back relegations.

Danny Ings's left-footed strike gave Burnley an early lead which was doubled by Martin Paterson's close-range effort eight minutes after the break.

After Michael Duff's red card, Wolves substitute Nouha Dicko pulled one back.

But defeat left Wolves needing to beat Brighton, whilst hoping Barnsley and Peterborough would both lose.