West Ham 1-0 Burnley: Mark Noble scores rebound after Tom Heaton saves his penalty to earn Hammers first Premier League win since October

West Ham are winning again, Andy Carroll is back starting, the London Stadium crowd was calm and relaxed. If it wasn’t for Mr Reliable Mark Noble missing a penalty, West Ham supporters could’ve been forgiven for thinking that things were returning to normal after a tumultuous six months. 

In the end, it mattered not as their captain tucked in the rebound to defeat visiting Burnley and end a run of seven matches without a victory.

After a tough spell facing Spurs, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool in the league, this was the ideal start to run of fixtures against teams they must beat, or at least pick up points against, if they have any desire to avoid a relegation slug match next year. 

Hull City at home and away matches against Swansea on Boxing Day and Leicester City at the turn of the year await.

Mark Noble needed two efforts to score against goalkeeper Tom Heaton after missing his penalty but scoring the rebound

Noble's goal would be the last significant action of the first-half after Winston Reid was hauled to the ground by Ben Mee

Dimitri Payet, Andy Carroll and a host of other West Ham players rush to celebrate with their goalscorer Noble

Noble went to West Ham manager Slaven Bilic to celebrate but seemed to get nothing but tactical instruction in response

Burnley striker Sam Vokes missed Burnley's best chance to equalise after his header failed to find an open West Ham goal

Andy Carroll started his first Premier League for West Ham since the opening day, proving problematic for Matthew Lowton

Bilic hopes this victory will help his players get over what he considers their fear of winning. He compared their mentality to a ‘cramp’ — a side so low on confidence they are hampered even when ahead. 

‘I saw that cramp in the second half,’ he said. ‘They were afraid of winning. It’s normal it happens to most clubs who are underachieving and we were before the game. 

'It can only go away with climbing up the table. Hopefully, this should put us in a position on Saturday so we go with less cramp and more confidence. We can only get rid of it with wins.’

This was the sort of match you get when a team with a poor record at home play at home against a side who are dire away. Burnley arrived in east London — and left — with just one of their 17 Premier League points coming on the road.

Carroll made his first start at the London Stadium and his first in four months and was involved in the first meaningful chance of the match which took until 33rd minute to arrive. Antonio passed to Manuel Lanzini, who played the ball to Carroll and his deft touch on the edge of the box allowed Antonio, who had continued his run, to shoot towards the bottom right corner, but Tom Heaton saved.  

Burnley players protest their innocence to the referee after they concede a penalty with Winston Reid lying on the ground

Burnley goalkeeper Tom Heaton guesses correctly and saves Mark Noble's penalty but he fails to clear the ball

West Ham midfielder Noble is first to the rebound and has an easy tap in to give the Hammers a lead just before half-time

Sam Vokes is gifted the chance to score after a mix up with goalkeeper Darren Randolph leaves the West Ham goal wide open

That chance seemed to breathe life into West Ham’s gently smouldering embers at the end of the first half. Two minutes later, Pedro Obiang struck the left post with a fizzing drive from 20 yards and on the stroke of half-time Noble clattered the right upright with a curling effort, when Dimitri Payet played a short corner to him from the left.

Moments before the whistle, Ben Mee pulled Winston Reid down inside the box for a penalty. Burnley manager Sean Dyche was adamant that Heaton was fouled by Antonio and Cheikhou Kouyate jumping into him from the corner. 

‘Any other keeper would fall on his back, flailing around and it’s given,’ he complained. ‘Ours do it the proper way — that used to be applauded. Now it’s called naive.’

Noble saw his first effort from the spot, sent towards the bottom right corner, saved by Heaton, but he stuck in the rebound. 

That is only the second penalty Noble has missed in seven years — he has taken 16 — and he ran off with a cheeky smile, tongue lolling, in relief as much as anything. 

Vokes, Hendrink and even West Ham's Cresswell look shocked after the Welshman missed what looked to be an easy chance

Burnley star Michael Keane appears to stop Reid's header with his left arm by referee Bobby Madley waves play on

Burnley's Andre Grey tussles with West Ham defender Angelo Ogbonna as both teams attempt to find a breakthrough goal

Burnley star Jeff Hendrick sticks a foot in on West Ham winger Michail Antonio during some feisty first-half exchanges

It was needed. From not registering a shot on target in the first half, Burnley began to batter West Ham’s goal in the second. Stephen Ward’s long free kick sent into the box hit a tangle of bodies and dropped for Sam Vokes who, with his back to goal, improvised in a split second to send the ball narrowly wide of the right post with the flick of his right boot.

Another Ward set piece was headed towards goal by Mee and evaded West Ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph but Cresswell cleared. Vokes then missed an open goal, just after the hour, heading over when Scott Arfield’s shot was saved by Randolph but bounced into the path of the leaping striker. 

With 20 minutes remaining, Randolph made a superb diving save to keep out Arfield’s powerful, swerving free kick.

Burnley star George Boyd attempts to block Aaron Cresswell's clearance as managers Bilic and Sean Dyche watch on

Burnley striker Grey attempts to poke the ball past West Ham goalkeeper Randolph with defender Reid tracking back

Scott Arfield of Burnley takes a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area that is saved by the Hammers keeper Randolph 

Andy Carroll looks dejected as he is substituted by Bilic but the England striker performed well despite not scoring a goal 

Fans from West Ham and Burnley make their way to a stunningly lit London Stadium ahead of the game on Wednesday night