West Brom and Burnley grind out first goalless draw of Premier League season - pity the fans who paid £14.95 to watch it

After 47 matches of frantic drama, in what has been the maddest start to a campaign in recent memory, here was the first goalless draw of the Premier League season.

Pity the fans who paid £14.95 for the privilege of watching it, in what was the first of three consecutive West Bromwich Albion matches to be made pay-per-view.

Burnley secured their first point of the season after an excruciating summer for Sean Dyche, but the most absorbing spectacle here was Slaven Bilic, the West Brom head coach, as he was put through the wringer for 93 minutes.

Bilic was in constant motion in his technical area, living every moment as if it was the final game of their season, barking orders and hearing his voice echo around the empty Hawthorns.

As a former defender, a first clean sheet since promotion will have been welcomed but Bilic will know that this is going to be a long old season.

It is now nine games, stretching back to the last campaign in the Championship, since he last experienced a victory.

Bilic said: "I’ve told the guys to take this positively and build on this in a positive way. We knew these are the games - I respect Burnley a lot - where you really need to win, or at least not lose.

“If we want to stay up then we have to win these types of games. We gave everything and they have proved they are good enough."

On the decision to make three of Albion’s games pay-per-view, Bilic said: “It’s not my money, it’s their money [the supporters].

“Football should not be free but affordable and I always used to say football is not polo or golf, it’s the sport for the masses, a working-class sport and it should be affordable to everybody.”

It was Dyche who would have felt more satisfied with this stalemate, with his squad still ravaged by injuries while defender Phil Bardsley was absent after testing positive for Covid-19.

Dyche has experienced a tricky transfer window, with Dale Stephens the only high-profile signing of the summer, but he insisted there was something to build on here.

“There wasn’t the money available to do what we wanted, but good players cost money,” he said.

“We’re not a million miles away and these were much more improved signs. We looked more like us. The point helps you going into the next fixture. We've had three out of four away games so it has not been easy.

"I won't question why they [the strikers] didn't get a goal - they were in those areas trying to score."

West Brom are still waiting for lift-off since returning to the top level, but there were tangible signs of improvement.

With Bilic making six changes to the team easily beaten by Southampton in their last game, they did show flashes of invention going forward and there was a promising debut from striker Karlan Grant.

Branislav Ivanovic, the former Chelsea defender, also impressed in his first league appearance in English football for nearly four years.

In a first half of few chances, Albion goalkeeper Sam Johnstone produced a fine save from Ashley Barnes in the 28th minute, repelling the forward’s fierce shot from close range.

Grant, making his first appearance for West Brom after a £15 million move from Huddersfield, had the ball in the net after heading in Grady Diangana’s cross but was clearly offside.

Bilic was almost celebrating in the 58th minute after a remarkable goalmouth scramble. Diangana’s shot was first saved by Nick Pope, with Ivanovic then driving the loose ball into James Tarkowski, before Pope finally pushed away Matheus Pereira’s effort as Burnley survived.

Five minutes later, Burnley should have taken the lead but Chris Wood, unmarked, headed Ashley Westwood’s excellent cross onto the top of the crossbar.

After an avalanche of 171 goals, here was the first stalemate of a crazy season.