Opinion: Burnley deliver the perfect away performance against Fulham to keep themselves in the fight

But at least those of a Claret persuasion can tuck into their turkey and trimmings on Christmas Day with smiles on their face following their side’s hard-earned three points in the capital.

In isolation, that’s all it is, one win. But it’s fair to say a victory like this has been coming. Despite last weekend’s disappointing display against Everton, the recent signs have been encouraging.

Performances are incrementally improving. Burnley have learned to stay in games and are beginning to build up some resilience. They don’t score a great deal and they remain vulnerable from set-pieces, but that doesn’t take away from the progress Kompany and his players have overseen.

A win like this was important. Prior to this, Burnley’s two wins had come against the two sides they were promoted from the Championship with. To truly belong in the top flight, you have to find ways to beat established Premier League clubs. Hopefully this is just the start.

They truly earned this one as well. In many ways, it was the perfect away performance. At times they had to dig in and withstand pressure, but when opportunities presented themselves they stuck them away with aplomb.

Defensively they were much improved as well, certainly compared to last week when they conceded two really sloppy goals against Sean Dyche’s Toffees.

They’ve shown in recent times that they’re now able to resist spells of pressure. At the beginning of the season, they simply wilted as soon as their opposition put them on the back foot.

Let’s not get carried away, this was only Burnley’s second clean sheet of the season, their first away from home. But again, progress has got to start somewhere. It’s certainly something to build on.

Upset

Many of the 1,800 Burnley fans that made the trip down to the capital two days before Christmas would have been travelling in hope, rather than expectation.

Despite last weekend’s defeat to Newcastle, a game that changed after Fulham were reduced to 10 men, Marco Silva’s side have been on form recently, winning back-to-back games 5-0. Burnley fans could be forgiven for accepting a point prior to kick-off.

Despite Burnley’s bright start, Fulham were the side in the ascendancy during the first-half. They created three or four good openings, but they found James Trafford in good shot-stopping form. At one stage you feared this might be a repeat of the recent Brighton game…

But they weren’t exactly clear-cut chances though. Burnley did well to remain solid and stay in the game, which is arguably the biggest improvement they’ve made in recent weeks. They’re competitive.

The Clarets came flying out of the blocks at the start of the second-half and quickly took the lead with a goal of real quality.

Wilson Odobert, now Burnley’s top scorer at the tender age of 19, let’s not forget, exchanged a quick one-two after the energetic Zeki Amdouni had done well to win the ball back high up the pitch.

There was still plenty for Odobert to do, but he curled home a sumptuous effort beyond Bernd Leno’s despairing dive to send the travelling fans housed behind that very goal into raptures.

At that stage of the game, with still so long to go, you could sense Burnley were in a bit of a dilemma. They couldn’t really afford to sit back and soak up pressure like they tried to do against Brighton, because there was still 45 minutes remaining, plus any stoppage-time.

But by the same token, they could hardly go hell for leather in search of a second goal and leave themselves exposed.

A second goal is what they needed though to provide that vital cushion. A second goal is what they got too, an early Christmas present, perhaps?

In some ways, it was gift-wrapped to them given the generosity in which Fulham backed off and backed off the marauding Sander Berge, who simply ran and ran with the ball from the halfway line. Of all the players to give space to, Berge is the last man you want to see driving towards you with the ball at his feet.

Again, Berge still had plenty to do though. But he got his head over the ball and struck it low and true into the bottom corner. Despite Leno getting the faintest of hands to his effort, he was never keeping it out of his net.

Once Burnley secured that two-goal cushion, the rest of the game was surprisingly comfortable. The visitors managed the game well, seeing out the remaining minutes with relative ease.

Had Fulham got one back, there was still enough time left to go and get another. But you never felt a surge coming. Burnley defended their box well and kept them at arm’s length at all times.

Staying in touch

There were some great scenes at full-time, scenes we’ve rarely witnessed this season. You could tell Kompany was lapping it up, and so he should.

Crucially, the Clarets are now only three points off safety thanks to Bournemouth’s last-gasp winner against Nottingham Forest. That is key.

Burnley can’t afford to get cut adrift, they’ve got to stay in touch. You dread to think how far they would have been off 17th place had they lost this one with games coming up against title challengers Liverpool and Aston Villa this coming week.

But Burnley are giving themselves a chance. Is it a guarantee of success? Absolutely not. But they’re giving it a go, which is all you can ask for.