Dan Black's stat-packed match verdict as all road's lead to the Premier League for Burnley following Boro win

Leeds United were the anomaly in the 2018/19 season when finishing in third place and losing out to Derby County in the play-off semi-final.

Both Burnley and Middlesbrough — who met at Turf Moor on Saturday — have both been festive frontrunners in the past, and stayed on track to secure Premier League football at the finish.

The Clarets would finish runners up to Leicester City in 2013/14 while Boro, under Spaniard Aitor Karanka, would finish second to Sean Dyche's side two seasons later.

It would come as no surprise, what-so-ever, should Vincent Kompany's table-toppers buck the trend and reinstate the club's top flight status at the first attempt.

And at this rate, when holding a healthy advantage at the halfway point, you wouldn't back against them following in the footsteps of Wolves (x2), Newcastle United (x2), QPR, Cardiff City, Bournemouth, Norwich City and Fulham, who held onto their lead to go up as champions.

Victory over their latest opponents, who were unbeaten since ex-Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick began his reign at the Riverside, opened up a six-point gap to their nearest rivals Sheffield United, who face Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium on Monday.

Manuel Benson's match-winning double would also ensure that the chasm to East Lancashire rivals Blackburn Rovers, in third place, stayed at eight points, with Jon Dahl Tomasson's men recovering from two heavy derby defeats to overcome Norwich City at Carrow Road.

All roads certainly look as though they're leading back to the 'Promised Land', and another come-from-behind success at the weekend seemed to strongly support that trajectory.

Burnley are the highest scoring outfit in the top four tiers of English football with 46, ahead of Ipswich Town and Plymouth Argyle (41), Manchester City (40), and Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough United (36).

They've outscored the likes of PSG — who possess the firepower of Neymar and World Cup finalists Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi — as well as Champions League winners Real Madrid, Barcelona and Serie A leaders Napoli, though German juggernauts Bayern Munich have three more.

"Everything we do is to score goals," claimed Kompany, during his post-match assessment. "I think when we defend, with the way we defend, I think it's pretty clear to everyone that we do it in a way that we can recover the ball and score.

"I think the way we try and manipulate the ball is also to always have a goal threat. It is an essential part of what we do and if we didn't have that goal threat, we wouldn't be the same team. I'm happy with the goals, but we have to do it."

Burnley might be averaging less goals-per-game than the aforementioned global elite, but a team scoring two goals-per-game, and averaging just over two points-per-game, is going to be difficult to stop.

Kompany, however, was as philosophical and as pragmatic as ever, recognising that that the job was only half done, and that there were still another 23 games still to come.

He said: "It's only halfway, and it's a different halfway to other leagues, because it's halfway to a much bigger amount of games, which means we still have 23 games to play. In my head I always reset the clock, I'm sure we'll find things to improve because we'll need to."

The home side were calculated, but lacked a cutting edge in the first half. For all their possession, they failed to properly test Boro stopper Zack Steffen, who joined Manchester City just a couple of months after Kompany's departure.

Aside from Johann Berg Gudmundsson's attempt, which the American repelled at his near post once the Icelandic winger had beaten the offside trap from Ian Maatsen's pass, he remained relatively unchallenged.

Benson took a swing once or twice in the opening 45 minutes, without his contributions registering much of a concern, but the Belgian winger would make a significant difference in the second half.

The 25-year-old's first donation didn't exactly benefit his team-mates, as ex-Clitheroe FC forward Duncan Watmore, who had replaced Marcus Forss at the break, capitalised on his opponents' attempts to keep the ball in play.

The former Shawbridge star's fifth goal of the campaign, though, was the stimulant the hosts clearly craved, and the setback that sparked them into life in front of a crowd of more than 20,000.

Benson atoned for his error within 11 minutes when, on the hour, he coerced Ryan Giles into allowing him onto his left foot inside the penalty area, before beating Steffen at his near post.

The former Royal Antwerp goalscorer, who signed in the summer, then added a second, and his seventh of the season, in the 67th minute when his delivery, intended for the head of leading scorer Jay Rodriguez, went all the way in off the far post.

The Clarets then scored three for the fifth time in six games in all competitions when Jonathan Howson flicked Josh Brownhill's corner into his own net with just short of 20 minutes remaining.

His mistake would ensure that Burnley's unbeaten run on home soil would continue, meaning Preston North End were the last side to come out on top at Turf Moor at this level way back in December 2015, when they had Brownhill on the bench.

"It's massive," Kompany acknowledged. "I don't think I've ever played in a club that wasn't extremely good at home throughout my entire career, but it's something I think you have to nurture as well, it doesn't just come.

"There's always this side where you come to Turf Moor and people think 'they play well', but we try to flip it and make it about them trying to play at Turf Moor and seeing how they like it.

"I don't think we look at it in a way that people think, but we talk about how we can get in their faces, how we can get the fans behind us. In the first half there wasn't much to cheer about, other than the one-v-one with the keeper from Johann, but our pressing was outstanding and we did get roars in those moments. In the second half I think it was a very complete performance."

But the final moments weren't without incident. Boro, who had felt aggrieved that they hadn't been awarded a penalty at 1-0, even though replays showed that Taylor Harwood-Bellis' challenge on Chuba Akpom was outside the box, were wrongly handed the opportunity to put the pressure on in the dying stages.

The visitors were handed their spot kick by referee David Webb, who also gave Connor Roberts his marching orders for a suspected handball, even though Akpom's header had come back off the crossbar.

It was a defining moment. If converted, Boro had the chance to force an equaliser against 10 men with six minutes of stoppage time still to play. The home side had suddenly gone from being comfortable to looking vulnerable.

Step forward Arijanet Muric. The Kosovan goalkeeper has had his critics, he perhaps should have dealt with Isaiah Jones's cross more convincingly in the seconds leading up to the penalty, but he calmed supporters' anxieties when denying Akpom at the foot of his right hand post.

Carrick had shaded their head-to-head as players 8-7, with two stalemates, since they first competed on opposite sides of the Manchester derby little over 14 years ago, when United won 1-0 at the Etihad.

Their last meeting came in a goalless draw on April 27, 2017, but Kompany is one-up over his old rival in the managerial stakes, and on the balance of play, you can't really argue with the outcome.

Unless you're Carrick: “We had a good penalty shout at 1-0 up. The Chuba one on the edge of the box is such a big moment. For me, if you’re in control of the ball and you’re goal side of the defender, and you’re protecting it as you’re told to as a kid, then if there’s contact and you both fall over, I just don’t see how you don’t give a free-kick or a penalty.

"I was told there was minimal contact, but for me, I just don’t understand how that’s not a penalty. It’s a big moment in the game. We’re frustrated and disappointed."