Wood at the double as Burnley ease to victory over Norwich

Norwich were brought back down to earth with a 2-0 defeat against Burnley at Turf Moor.

A week after their brilliant victory over Manchester City, the Canaries were undone by two early Chris Wood goals – his first of the season – and remain without a point on the road since returning to the Premier League.

The result brought Burnley a first victory since the opening day of the season and, for 24 hours at least, a place in the top 10.

Jeff Hendrick was rewarded for his late equaliser as a substitute against Brighton last weekend with a starting spot for the hosts while Norwich, unsurprisingly, were unchanged.

If ever there was a team geared up to dish out a reality check, it is surely Burnley, and the Clarets began with an intensity that Norwich could not match.

They could still have taken the lead, Teemu Pukki being denied by Nick Pope the only time the visitors made it out of their own half in the first 10 minutes, but it was no surprise when Wood headed in the opener from Ashley Westwood’s corner.

It was extremely poor defending from Norwich, who left the striker all alone a couple of yards out with no one on the near post.

The Norwich treatment room was already a busy place, and it gained another customer 12 minutes in when captain Alex Tettey appeared to suffer a muscle injury and was replaced by Moritz Leitner.

Two minutes later Burnley grabbed their second and again Norwich’s defenders seemed strangely unconcerned by Wood as he strode across the area to meet Dwight McNeil’s low cross with a sweeping finish.

McNeil was seeing a lot of the ball down the left and Burnley twice came close to a third but Tim Krul reacted well to keep out Jack Cork’s neat flick while Jamal Lewis prevented Hendrick heading into an empty net.

Norwich finally put a move together in the Burnley half in the 22nd minute and very nearly profited but Leitner’s 25-yard effort, which took a deflection off Cork, crashed against Pope’s post.

Ashley Barnes, who required a full change of kit after suffering a nasty cut in the opening minutes, tried to get in on the action four minutes later, meeting a cross with a well-struck volley that required a good block from Sam Byram.

Ibrahim Amadou was perhaps fortunate to get away with a yellow card for a lunging challenge on McNeil but the latter stages of the half saw improvements from Norwich and good play from Emiliano Buendia ended with a shot that was blocked by Ben Mee.

Buendia then curled an effort wide as Norwich sought a response at the start of the second half but Burnley looked just as likely to add a third.

Krul took exception to a sliding challenge from Matt Lowton and the pair briefly squared up but referee David Coote took no action other than awarding a free-kick.

A crisp one-two between Barnes and Wood saw the former curl a shot just past the angle, while Wood spurned a great chance for a hat-trick by shooting straight at Krul.

Coote then waved away appeals after Barnes appeared to be felled in the area by Ben Godfrey and decided against a VAR check.

Norwich just could not find the incisive move to break through the Burnley defence. Leitner was close again with a shot from 18 yards that flew just wide but the home side closed out the victory comfortably.