Raul Jimenez’s injury time penalty salvaged Wolves a deserved draw against Burnley on what had previously been a frustrating afternoon for the hosts. Ben Mee went through the back of the Mexican with just seconds remaining and Jimenez took responsibility himself, calmly rolling home a late equaliser.
The Clarets had led through Ashley Barnes’ well-taken strike in the opening period and then proved difficult for Wolves to break down from open play. Jimenez struck the post minutes before grabbing the vital equaliser, which extends Wolves’ unbeaten start to the Premier League to three games, with three draws.
They may have swapped Turin for Wolverhampton, but Wolves kicked off in sweltering heat and began on the front foot. Ruben Neves attempted to emulate his incredible strike against Manchester United, but his dipping effort didn’t drop in time to trouble Nick Pope in the Burnley goal.
The Clarets, without a game in a week, showed signs of looking fresher early on, Matt Lowton in particular when he broke forward, exchanged passed with Chris Wood and fed Barnes to curl wide. However, the striker was just finding his range once a long ball wasn’t deal with, Barnes picked up the loose ball and smashed a terrific strike into the bottom corner.
The goal rocked Wolves and they were inches away from falling further behind soon after. Mee was left unmarked at the back post to head Ashley Westwood’s corner on to the bar, before a combination of Ryan Bennett, Rui Patricio and the post kept the following melee on the line from resulting in the second goal.
The goalkeeper was also quick off his line to deny Wood impressively, after the striker had brought a long ball down ahead of Bennett. At the other end, Wolves’ first-half was summed up when Matt Doherty got his header all wrong from a Joao Moutinho corner.
Half-time: Wolves 0 Burnley 1
After the interval both sides had chances to change the complexion of the contest. First, Morgan Gibbs-White found a yard of space to get his shot away, with a deflection, not seen by the referee, taking the ball into the side netting. Meanwhile, for Burnley, Barnes squandered a great opening, turning Wood’s pass wide from close range.
It wasn’t long before Leander Dendoncker took to the action, replacing Moutinho before the hour was up. Pedro Neto followed soon after too, in place of Gibbs-White, as Wolves searched for a route back into the game.
Despite having a lot of the ball, Wolves were struggling to break down Burnley, who were taking every possible opportunity to slow down proceedings. Still, the hosts had chances to pull level. First, Jimenez took down Bennett’s cross, but opted to pass rather than shoot, before Traore dragged wide of the near post.
With time running out, Neves rolled an effort into the arms of Pope from range, before Wolves came even closer when Bennett’s long throw fell at the feet of Jimenez, but his snapshot came back off the foot of the post with Pope rooted to the spot.
Fortunately, there was a final string in the tail. From another Bennett long throw, Burnley didn’t cope, and Neves’ volley teased Jimenez and Mee to stretch for the ball. The Mexican got there first, Mee second and a penalty was given, after another agonising wait on VAR. Jimenez himself stood up and rolled the ball home to earn Wolves a point for their second half efforts.
Full-time: Wolves 1 Burnley 1
Wolves: Patricio, Doherty (Traore 77), Bennett, Coady Boly, Jonny, Neves, Moutinho (Dendoncker 59), Gibbs-White (Neto 65), Jota, Jimenez.
Unused subs: Ruddy, Vallejo, Vinagre, Cutrone.
Burnley: Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Pieters, Gudmundsson (Lennon 75), Cork, Westwood, McNeil (Hendrick 86), Barnes (Rodriguez 78), Wood.
Unused subs: Hart, Taylor, Long, Vydra.
