Pressure piles on Scott Parker as West Ham sink Burnley in basement battle
Will Unwin at Turf Moor
Date published Sat 7 Feb 2026 17.07 GMT

For Burnley this felt like the beginning of their Premier League farewell tour, but Scott Parker insists he will not walk away, while West Ham reignited their fight for survival. There was little between the two, but the Hammers showed why they have hope of staying up, providing the brief moments of quality, something the home side could not in a tense Turf Moor atmosphere.

Crysencio Summerville and Taty Castellanos expertly finished from two perfect assists to send West Ham to victory, leaving them three points adrift of Nottingham Forest in 17th, the last place above the relegation spots, as they bounced back from a late loss at Chelsea. Burnley showed fight, but a 16th straight game without a win, including 11 defeats, brought derision from the home supporters and demands for change in the dugout and boardroom.

"I'm a fighter and I've experienced a lot of things in my life and I've been through a lot of adversity and I've been through a lot of challenges," Parker said. "One thing I hold firmly and I stand by and is a foundation and an absolute rock, which is concrete, which is built on, is: in these moments of pure adversity, I will not waver. I will always stand up and I'll always represent that to this group."

There was more than an air of resignation around the ground before the first whistle was blown. Nothing in the opening 12 minutes suggested either team had the desire or capability to get out of the relegation zone.

Burnley, as Parker puts it, are often on the wrong side of the Premier League's "fine margins", but it is often of their own making. On this occasion, full-back Lucas Pires gave the ball away needlessly on the halfway line, Mateus Fernandes broke and slipped a precise pass through to Summerville, who reminded Kyle Walker of his advancing years, before dinking over Martin Dubravka, as the winger scored in a fifth consecutive match.

Neither set of fans are happy with life, but the visitors were more vocal, chanting "sack the board" in the hope of ousting Karren Brady and David Sullivan, though Burnley supporters were not short of toxicity come the 26th minute. The second was far too easy as El Hadji Malick Diouf was afforded the left wing to himself, allowing him to send in a perfect cross, headed home by Castellanos, who did well to get across his man.

Chanting "We want Parker out", "we want our club back" and telling substitute Jacob Bruun Larsen "you're not fit to wear the shirt" after calling for more encouragement from the home fans, summed up the mood. The Burnley head coach did have some support but it came from the away end, having served West Ham as a player.

"In the first half we looked fragile, we looked edgy," Parker said. "There's obviously a [lack of] confidence at the moment and just the whole environment today at certain moments was testing for the players. You could sense that certainly in the first half. I totally understand it [the atmosphere], but I just didn't think that helped this young group at times.

"They're guys that are absolutely giving everything and it was tough for them. I get that when you're hearing the level of, openly, the criticism. It affects us."

Considering the inept nature of the first-half performance, Burnley came out with intent sourced from within the dressing room. They were on top in the early stages, creating numerous dangerous situations, which should have resulted in a goal, only for two fine blocks from Marcus Edwards and Zian Flemming chances to secure a first clean sheet of the Nuno Espirito Santo era. That was helped by a solid debut from Axel Disasi at centre-back and a third win in four league matches.

"It shows improvement, but we are still in the same situation," Nuno said. "Nothing has changed, we have to keep trying, trying and fighting."

West Ham struggled to create chances to kill the game off, to keep things vaguely interesting, but Burnley failed to score for the ninth time this season. The only great escape Burnley could muster was the mass early exit of fans and no one could blame them. West Ham's supporters stayed to the end, savouring the surroundings in the hope they will not be back next season.

SkySport Player ratings:
Burnley: Dubravka (6), Walker (5), Esteve (5), Pires (5), Humphreys (5), Florentino (4), Anthony (5), Edwards (6), Flemming (4), Ugochukwu (5), Hannibal (5)
Subs: Laurent (5), Bruun Larsen (5), Tchaouna (5), Foster (6), Broja (5)
West Ham: Hermansen (7); Wan-Bissaka (7), Disasi (7), Mavropanos (7), Diouf (7); Soucek (6), Fernandes (8); Summerville (8), Bowen (7), Wilson (6), Castellanos (7)
Subs: Potts (6), Scarles (6), Pablo (6), Walker-Peters (n/a), Adama (n/a)
Player of the Match: Summerville
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