“He was brilliant, I was delighted for him”- Ian Wright and Jermaine Jenas singles out two Burnley players for special praise following Brighton draw
James Trafford was singled out for special praise following Burnley’s hard-earned draw away to Brighton.
The Clarets goalkeeper made a string of impressive saves as Vincent Kompany’s men held on for an invaluable point at the Amex.
In fact, Trafford made 10 stops in total, which is the joint most number of saves a goalkeeper has made in the Premier League this season – a record he now shares with West Ham’s Alphonse Areola.
The 21-year-old’s display earned the praise of Match of the Day pundit Ian Wright, who even compared one of his sprawling saves to Peter Schmeichel’s trademark starfish.
“He was brilliant, I was delighted for him,” he told presenter Gary Lineker.
“Coming into the Burnley side after a £19m move, Vincent Kompany has shown a lot of faith in him and he made some very, very good saves.
“A lot of the Burnley fans weren’t quite sure simply because of [Arijanet] Muric and how well he had done to come up, but he made some fantastic saves.
“It was great the way he spread himself, it was very Schmeichel-esque, that was a really good save.”
Saturday’s 1-1 draw ended Burnley’s four-game losing streak away from home, which at least gives them something to build on ahead of next week’s home clash against Sean Dyche’s Everton.
Fellow Match of the Day pundit Jermaine Jenas still believes it will be an uphill challenge for Burnley to stay up, but he acknowledges they’re at least taking steps in the right direction.
“Next week is a massive game,” he said.
“He seems to have got a way to get them playing a certain way. They’ve got a belief in them.
“It’s always going to be a tough season for them, but I thought the boy Odobert who came in, he’s 19 years old, he got his goal and he had a decent game.
“Yes it’s a loss losing [Luca] Koleosho, he’s been a big, big player for them.
“Vincent Kompany is learning a lot about his side as the games go on. I still think they will be down there, but he sticks to his way of playing and fair play to him for doing it.”
