Captain Ben Mee backs Burnley to keep climbing the Premier League table!

The Clarets moved five points clear of the Cottagers after ending the calendar year with victory at home to Sheffield United.

The 31-year-old match-winner netted the only goal of the game when guiding his header from a Robbie Brady corner past Blades keeper Aaron Ramsdale in the 32nd minute.

The defender's finish, having beaten Ethan Ampadu in the air, was the 200th Premier League goal of Sean Dyche's tenure and his first at Turf Moor in nearly six years.

His last on home soil was the opener in a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace in January 2015 when the visitors overturned a two-goal deficit.

“We are getting back to where we want to be – tough to beat, especially at home,” he said.

“That will get us up the table. A few more goals would be nice and we don’t have to cling on at the end but we’re really pleased with the win.

“We’re moving in the right direction. Big credit to the lads. We played two days ago, they had an extra day, and the lads are sprinting around and running around at the end of the game, which shows the desire to be competing and getting up that table and that will continue.”

Ramsdale had made a couple of outstanding stops to deny Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood before Mee opened the scoring, but the hosts had to batten down the hatches in the second half to protect their lead.

Nick Pope saved from David McGoldrick while George Baldock and John Egan went close in quick succession as the Blades cranked up the pressure.

However, the Clarets held on to record a sixth clean sheet of the campaign and extend their unbeaten home run to four games.

After leapfrogging Brighton into 16th, Mee said: “It was a fight. They are down there battling away and they keep going.

“We knew that. They are a side who will keep working hard and keep working for each other.

“We had to be on it. We had a couple of chances in the first half and it was nice to get a goal.

“It was nice to be on the scoresheet but that’s what we do, we dig in as a team.

“We dug in at the end, altogether, the strikers defending really well from the front and it was nice to come up with a goal, finally.”