West Ham’s misery continued as Burnley ended their own poor run with a thumping win at Turf Moor.
Strikers Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood celebrated their new contracts with a goal apiece in the 3-0 win, with Wood having another chalked off by VAR.
The third goal was a calamity for Hammers keeper Roberto, who was given a vote of confidence by Manuel Pellegrini on Thursday following criticism of his performances in the absence of the injured Lukasz Fabianski.
There is no medical term for a fear of corners but Roberto was all at sea all afternoon, with the nadir coming in the 54th minute when he pushed Ashley Westwood’s cross into his net for an own goal.
And West Ham’s miserable day was complete when Manuel Lanzini was carried off on a stretcher in injury time apparently with a serious injury after landing awkwardly following a foul by Westwood.
It is now six games without a victory in the league for Pellegrini’s team, whose slide down the table continues, while Burnley return to the top 10.
Clarets manager Sean Dyche had made it clear how dissatisfied he was with Burnley’s first-half performance last weekend, when they conceded three times against Sheffield United and slipped to a third straight loss.
He responded by changing both his full-backs, bringing in Phil Bardsley and Charlie Taylor for Matt Lowton and Erik Pieters, while Wood was fit after missing the last two games with a hamstring injury.
Pellegrini made two changes to his team, with Ryan Fredericks and Pablo Fornals preferred to Pablo Zabaleta and Andriy Yarmolenko, but there was still no Jack Wilshere.
Yarmolenko was pressed into service in the 20th minute in place of the hobbling Mark Noble, injured in a tussle with Barnes, by which point the Hammers were already behind.
Burnley began like a team with something to prove and Barnes poked in an 11th-minute opener after James Tarkowski had nodded a Westwood corner back into the six-yard box.
West Ham were furious, arguing rightly that it should not have been a corner, with Barnes getting the final touch.
But they could not blame referee Kevin Friend for their lacklustre display, the visitors simply unable to get any foothold in the game against the energy and directness of Burnley.
It took 28 minutes for West Ham to win their first corner – they did not manage a shot in the first half – but the momentum remained very much with the home side, who thought they had doubled their lead eight minutes later.
Wood powered a header into the top corner from McNeil’s sumptuous cross but a VAR check showed the striker was marginally offside.
There was no denying the same player eight minutes later, though. Rumoured Manchester United target McNeil, who was again excellent, robbed Fabian Balbuena on the left and he squared for Wood to sweep home.
Roberto, whose throw put Balbuena in a difficult position, got a hand to the ball but could not keep it out.
Wood celebrated by mimicking Friend’s VAR check, but this time there was no doubt.
West Ham began the second half with much more purpose but their hopes of a comeback were effectively ended by Roberto’s howler.
The keeper claimed he was fouled by Barnes, and there was another lengthy VAR check, but technology did not spare his blushes.
Ironically, the Spaniard then produced two good saves to deny Wood and Phil Bardsley, while Nick Pope was called upon seriously for the first time to keep out a firm shot from Cresswell.
Burnley again had the ball in the net from a corner moments later through Ben Mee but this time Friend did penalise Barnes for fouling the keeper.
Roberto came up with the best save of the match with seven minutes remaining, tipping over Jeff Hendrick’s fierce strike, but the damage had long been done.
