Burnley vs Norwich City provided the exact amount of entertainment and goals we were all expecting on Saturday afternoon at Turf Moor: none.
Burnley were the better side in the opening exchanges and should've been rewarded for their dominance with a penalty in the 15th minute. Tim Krul's double punch to the face of Matej Vydra though went unpunished.
After that penalty appeal not a lot happened throughout the remainder of the first half. The home side did have most of the ball, but what the did with it was less than impressive. Opting to cross wildly into the box at every opportunity, but without any quality.
It wasn't fun.
We were given some hope that things might get a bit better in the second half by Mathias Normann, who saw a decent free-kick from the edge of the box well saved by Nick Pope.
Not long after Norwich created their best chance of the opening hour, with Max Aarons whipping a wonderful cross to the back post to an unmarked Ozan Kabak - who ballooned his subsequent header over the bar.
Moments later, the impressive Normann almost scored one of the goals of the season so far. The midfielder rouletted past one Burnley defender, jinked past another, and then unleashed a venomous effort on goal from the right hand side of the penalty. The effort looped over Pope in goal, but flicked off the crossbar thereafter.
After this chance the game reverted back to type, with both teams kicking the legs off each other and crossing the ball aimlessly into each other's penalty area.
It wasn't fun.
Until Burnley nearly scored a last minute winner through Lowton. The full-back rushed in at the back post to latch onto a cross, but headed just over the bar.
Burnley player ratings
1. Goalkeeper & defenders
Nick Pope (GK) - 5/10 - Made a half-decent save in the second half.
Matthew Lowton (RB) - 5/10 - Worked hard on the right flank.
James Tarkowski (CB) - 5/10 - Solid, but slightly too strong in the tackle at times and was treading a fine line most of the game.
Nathan Collins (CB) - 6/10 - Decent performance from the Irishman.
Charlie Taylor (LB) - 4/10 - Ran up and down the flank a lot, but didn't provide much quality on either side of the ball.
2. Midfielders
Aaron Lennon (RM) - 2/10 - Saw so much of the ball and did so little with it.
Josh Brownhill (CM) - 5/10 - Looked decent when running with the ball at times, but just didn't it often enough.
Ashley Westwood (CM) - 5/10 - Did his job. As he always does.
Dwight McNeil (LM) - 3/10 - Wasn't at the races today, unusually clumsy on the ball.
3. Forwards
Matej Vydra (ST) - 4/10 - Took a few heavy challenges and was forced off at half-time.
Chris Wood (ST) - 4/10 - It must have been frustrating for him to watch his wide midfielders and full-backs fail to put in a single good cross all day.
4. Substitutes
Jay Rodriguez - 5/10 - He was better than Vydra, at least.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson - N/A.
Ashley Barnes - N/A.
Norwich City player ratings
5. Goalkeeper & defenders
Tim Krul (GK) - 5/10 - Had a few hairy moments, as he usually does,
Ozan Kabak (CB) - 5/10 - Missed a great chance on the hour mark. Defended quite well though.
Grant Hanley (CB) - 6/10 - Burnley played right into his hands by lumping the ball aimlessly into the box about a trillion times.
Ben Gibson (CB) - 5/10 - Probably his best performance ever at Turf Moor...which isn't saying much,
6. Midfielders & wing-backs
Max Aarons (RWB) - 5/10 - Decent effort on goal early on, driving the ball wide of the post from 25-yards out.
Pierre Lees-Melou (CM) - 4/10 - Westwood got the better of him on one too many occasions.
Mathias Normann (CM) - 6/10 - Looks like a decent player, and clearly has an eye for a pass. He needs to play more.
Kenny McLean (CM) - 5/10 - Not a bad performance. Not a good one either.
Dimitris Giannoulis (LWB) - 4/10 - Struggled at times to defend the overlap from Lowton.
7. Forwards
Teemu Pukki (ST) - 4/10 - Made some clever runs - pity no one noticed them.
Josh Sargent (ST) - 3/10 - Worked very hard without actually doing anything. Quite an achievement that.
8. Substitutes
Lukas Rupp - N/A.
Milot Rashica - N/A.
Adam Idah - N/A.
Source : 90min