Miserable Burnley slump to bottom of the Championship table

Burnley slumped to the bottom of the Championship table after a self-inflicted defeat in the rain at Swansea City.

The Clarets gifted the Swans two of their three goals with inexplicable mistakes as they went down to a miserable 3-1 loss in South Wales.

The defeat, Burnley’s fourth from just seven games, extends Burnley’s winless run to 213 days and counting.

The Clarets now fall below Preston North End and down to the very bottom of the table, owing to their dreadful defensive record - the worst of any side in the division - with 16 goals already conceded.

Even at this early juncture, pressure will already be growing on Nicky Hayen after a winless and worrying start to the season.

The Clarets have a rare week off coming up, before a home clash against fellow early strugglers Derby County next week, with the three-week international break to immediately follow.

Hayen made the rare call of naming an unchanged side for the first time this season.

The only change from the midweek draw against Wrexham came on the bench, where Jamie Vardy was named in a Burnley squad for the first time since sealing his free agent transfer.

The 39-year-old was unavailable on Tuesday night having carried over a one-match ban from Italy.

It meant Hayen kept faith with Igor Julio, despite concerns over the defender’s match sharpness following a lack of recent minutes.

Josh Cullen, Hannibal, Enock Agyei, Jaydon Banel, Jacob Bruun Larsen and Dastan Satpayev all missed out through injury.

Elsewhere, Ben Amos, Jordan Beyer, Bashir Humphreys, Shurandy Sambo, Marcus Edwards, Mike Tresor, Ashley Barnes and Michael Obafemi all remain unavailable having been left out of Burnley’s 25-man squad list.

As for Swansea, they made four changes from their midweek defeat to Southampton, which was their first loss of the season.

The Clarets started brightly, with Aaron Ramsey comfortably beating the offside trap down the right inside the opening 60 seconds. He pulled the ball back to Josh Laurent on the edge of the box but the midfielder was unable to get a clean shot off at goal.

While Swansea were unsurprisingly capable in possession, they were leaving acres of space in behind for Burnley to exploit.

That’s exactly what transpired when Igor played a lovely ball forward for Zeki Amdouni, who did well to shrug off defender Stephen Welsh before side footing disappointingly wide of the near post when he really ought to have scored.

Despite looking the more settled on the ball, Swansea weren’t looking particularly dangerous in the final third. That’s until Burnley, and Max Weiss in particular, gifted them a goal out of nowhere.

A long ball forward bounced all the way through to the Burnley goalkeeper, who decided to delay and take a touch rather than clearing his lines at the first opportunity. This allowed Adam Idah the opportunity to charge him down, which is exactly what he did, giving him an easy finish into the back of an empty, unguarded net.

One almost instantly became two, as Moussa Yeo nipped in to win the ball in Burnley’s six-yard box, but thankfully for the away side Kyle Walker was there to make a crucial last-ditch block.

Burnley eventually worked their way back into the game, forcing two corners in quick succession after Ramsey and Amdouni had shots well blocked, before Laurent curled disappointingly over.

But just as the Clarets were beginning to enjoy a spell of pressure, lo and behold Burnley gifted the home side a second goal completely out of nowhere.

It actually came from a Burnley corner, which was cleared back towards the halfway line, where Ugo Raghouber inexplicably played a blind pass that was instantly pounced upon by Elijah Just.

He fed Moussa Yeo, who did the rest by driving towards the Burnley goal and beating Weiss all ends up at the goalkeeper’s near post.

Five minutes before the interval, Ramsey came so close to halving the deficit when he unleashed a vicious drive that looked destined for the top corner. But former Claret Lawrence Vigouroux somehow managed to tip it onto the bar, before Amdouni got the rebound all wrong.

Things could have gone from bad to worse for Burnley before the half was even up, with Idah seeing a close-range effort deflect onto the outside of the post.

But Burnley could have given themselves a glimmer of hope in the final minute of five added on in stoppage time, but Oliver Sonne wastefully blazed over after being picked out in acres of space inside the box.

Despite a complete shocker of a first half, Hayen opted against making any changes at the break.

But eight minutes into the second period, the Burnley boss had clearly seen enough, introducing Lucas Pires for Ramsey and pushing Sonne up to right wing.

Within a couple of minutes, Burnley were back in it thanks to Largie Ramazani.

The winger was set free down the left by Igor Julio’s clever ball over the top and, despite a whiff of offside, the linesman’s flag remained down. The Leeds United loanee did the rest, surging through on goal before toe poking past the keeper at his near post.

Midway through the second-half, Jamie Vardy arrived for his Burnley debut, entering the fray in place of Raghouber.

But it was Swansea’s star striker Zan Vipotnik, reportedly a deadline day target for Burnley, who scored the game’s next goal.

It came after the Clarets were undone by one simple ball in behind, allowing Ronald to race through and play a ball across goal for Vipotnik to tap home into an empty net.

With three minutes left, Burnley almost gave themselves a late lifeline when Lucas Pires’ corner went all the way in. But referee James Bell ruled it out, supposedly for a foul on the goalkeeper. If so, it was a very soft awarding.

Andreas Hountondji then raced through in stoppage time, ignoring Vardy to his left, but saw his shot well saved by Vigouroux in any case. Even if he had scored, it would have been too little, too late, and just a consolation.

TEAMS

Swansea: Vigouroux, Key (Lissah), Cabango, Welsh, Tymon, Stamnic, Eustaquio (Fulton), Widell, Just (Franco), Yeo (Ronald), Idah (Vipotnik)

Subs not used: Fisher, Seelt, Parente, Opoku

Burnley: Weiss, Sonne (Hatate), Walker, Igor, Roberts, Alleyne, Raghouber (Vardy), Laurent, Ramsey (Pires), Ramazani (Hountondji), Amdouni (Broja)

Subs not used: Coudert, Ahmedhodzic, Ekdal, Castell

Referee: James Bell

Attendance: 16,390