Photo gallery: Leeds United 3, Burnley 1 - Clarets beaten at Elland Road despite Maxwel Cornet equaliser

The Ivory Coast international, making his final appearance for the Clarets before heading out to the African Cup of Nations, produced yet another moment of individual brilliance at Elland Road.

Burnley' s leading scorer had replaced Johann Berg Gudmundsson at the break and drew the visitors level just nine minutes into the second half.

Cornet, following a spell on the sidelines with a thigh strain, drew the foul from Diego Llorente before finishing the resulting free kick from 25 yards out.

The Ivorian stroked the ball over the wall and beat Illan Meslier at his near post to take his tally to six Premier League goals for the campaign.

That, however, was a rare moment of quality from a game where the away side had largely been second best.

Sean Dyche's side rode their luck time and time again in the first half and somehow survived until the 39th minute.

Raphinha's attempt from distance clipped the top of the crossbar as the Brazilian went for glory after spotting Wayne Hennessey off his line.

The ex-Sporting Lisbon and Rennes forward then turned provider for the home side's next opportunity, but Hennessey plunged to his post to keep out Junior's flick.

The visitors had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring when former Leeds United pair, Charlie Taylor and Chris Wood, combined.

But Meslier made himself big to deny the New Zealander, who had stolen a yard from his marker to meet the full back's cross.

Play quickly switched to the opposite end of the pitch where Tyler Roberts was left cupping his head in his hands after heading Luke Ayling's delivery wide when a goal looked assured.

The Clarets couldn't hold out any longer, though, as United profited from James Tarkowski's unforced error.

The defender's clearance lacked any kind of conviction and Jack Harrison capitalised, forcing a save from Hennessey with his left boot before tucking away the rebound with his right.

Still, Burnley had the chance to equalise before the break, as Taylor and Wood teamed up again, but the latter scooped his effort over the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area.

With Burnley trailing, their hopes rested on one man to get them back into the game. And he didn't disappoint.

Five of Cornet's six goals have been first time finishes and his latest was the first time the Clarets had scored directly from a free kick since Steven Defour's wonder goal at Old Trafford in December 2017.

Disappointingly the visitors failed to build on that and it was United who continued to look the more threatening.

Raphinha was in disbelief when hitting the side-netting with the goal at his mercy from Daniel James's cross, which had evaded everybody inside the penalty area.

That could have proven to be a big turning point in the game, but it was Leeds that used that moment to galvanise their own display.

They scored their second goal of the afternoon in the 78th minute when engineering a numerical advantage from a quickly taken corner; Mateusz Klich squared the ball to Stuart Dallas, who left Hennessey rooted to the spot with a side-footed finish.

Dyche made changes in a final push for a point, with Aaron Lennon and Wood making way for Jay Rodriguez and Matej Vydra, but the substitutes failed to make their presence felt.

Instead, Leeds continued to catch the Clarets on the counter, exploiting the holes in their opponent's formation, and they rounded off the win deep into stoppage time.

Matt Lowton failed to spot James ghosting in at the back post and the Wales international guided Joe Gelhardt's cross goalwards, with his header looping over the line after Hennessey had got an arm to the ball.

Burnley, who closed the calendar year with the worst points-per-game ratio of all 92 clubs operating in the English pyramid, remain in the bottom three, two points adrift from Watford, and now eight behind Leeds.