BURNLEY midfielder Ashley Westwood faces a long spell out after suffering a horror injury that left some West Ham players close to tears.

The 32-year-old suffered a suspected dislocated and fractured ankle in the 1-1 draw at the London Stadium after an innocuous challenge with Hammers forward Nikola Vlasic.

Declan Rice quickly alerted medics, while Vlasic and Aaron Cresswell looked distraught as they realised the severity of the injury.

Westwood was given oxygen during nine minutes of treatment on the pitch before being placed in an ambulance and taken to hospital.

Clarets interim boss Mike Jackson said: “He’s gone to hospital and we’re waiting for an update. We’re hoping he’s OK, our thoughts are with him.

“You could see it wasn’t good from the reaction of the players. He looked distraught but, fingers crossed, we hope it’s OK.

“When you see Declan Rice come over and say it’s not good, you know it’s not. The lad himself put his hand up, and he doesn’t usually go down.

“It could be the end of his season, but there is a squad here ready to play. Josh Brownhill came in and has done really well. They reacted well from that, they are a good group.”

The shocking injury marred a battling display from Burnley, who took the lead through a Wout Weghorst header moments after Westwood had gone off.

But Maxwel Cornet missed a penalty to double the lead in first-half stoppage time and instead they were pegged back by Tomas Soucek’s bundled finish in the 74th minute.

In fact, Burnley were hanging on at the end, with goalkeeper Nick Pope twice denying Michail Antonio and pulling off a stunning save to keep out Issa Diop’s header.

Jackson, the club’s Under-23 coach, said he was still in the dark about Burnley’s search for a new manager following the shock departure of Sean Dyche.

“I’ve not looked further forward than today,” he added. “But I’ve seen a lot from this group, I know what they are like. Sometimes you need a bit of a foundation to build on and hopefully that comes from today.

“Everyone has rallied around. We’ll have a recovery day tomorrow and go from there. But my thoughts now are about getting the on bus and going home.

“When it’s ready I’m sure the board and the chairman will give the information the supporters want. But the priority is the next game.”