Chris Wood’s first-half hattrick sinks Wolves as Burnley reach the brink of securing their Premier League status

Chris Wood continued his run of magnificent form as he became the Clarets’ all-time Premier League leading goalscorer in one of the finest team displays seen this season with a 4-0 victory at Molineux.

The New Zealand international now sits at the top of Burnley’s Premier League all-time leading goalscorer list with 44, and joined an exclusive list of the league’s players with 10 or more goals in the last four seasons on Sunday, alongside the likes of Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy.

In his last six league appearances, Wood has tallied six goals and three assists, coming up clutch as the season draws to a close and the relegation battlers fight for their luxurious status in England’s top-flight.

Also becoming the first player from New Zealand to score a Premier League hat-trick, the striker described his day as ‘one of the best of my life’.

“It’s been one of the best days of my life. It really has,” said Wood. It’s something I’ve always wanted in my career. It’s been a long time coming. I’m 29 years old now and I’m over the moon it’s finally come, which is nice.”

It’s easy to lose count of the many records broken by Wood on Sunday, joining Chris Sutton and Michael Owen as the third player in Premier League history to score an away first-half hat-trick, and the first to do so since 1998.

Burnley marked their biggest top-flight win since a 4-0 win at Sunderland in 1965, and their first top-division win at Molineux since 1973 – their last win at Wolves coming in April 2013 in the Championship.

A stunning attacking display from the Clarets was exactly what the doctor ordered, wasting no time in getting started – Dyche’s men were already two goals up by the 21st minute.

When you think of classic Premier League strikers like Thierry Henry, Alan Shearer and Ruud van Nistelrooy, that’s exactly the type of performance you usually saw from them that Wood produced – getting in the right place at the right time, and displaying a killer instinct in front of goal.

Wood made his name on the big stage, causing havoc amongst defenders at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as an 18-year-old. Now 29, the striker has made no mistake in etching his name in Premier League history.

If the performance wasn’t dominant enough from a view of the naked eye, Wood finished the game with a higher xG (expected goals) of 1.41, than the entire Wolves side who managed a bland 0.36.

Burnley are now on the brink of Premier League safety and ready to tip over the edge as the Clarets went nine points clear of the drop zone, but gaffer Sean Dyche reiterated his side’s job isn’t done yet and the show isn’t over until the fat lady sings.

When the Auckland-born striker wasn’t rippling the back of the net, he was setting someone else up to do so. Ashley Westwood put the final nail in Wolves’ coffin five minutes from time, finishing brilliantly following an inch-perfect lay off from, you guessed it, Chris Wood.

The job this Burnley side have done, especially that of Dyche becomes even more admirable when considering the club have given the manager just a £10.3 million net spend since the summer transfer window in 2019. Since then, the 49-year-old has led to five successive seasons in the top-flight. When you talk about managers getting the best of out their players, very few do it better than Dyche.

The Lancashire side scored more goals this weekend than the entire ‘big six’ combined. Maybe that will prove a deciding factor for Florentino Perez when choosing his next clubs for the inevitable later formation of a Super League.