Plymouth Argyle 0-5 Burnley: Bottom side swept aside as Clarets rediscover their shooting boots

Scott Parker’s men hit Plymouth for FIVE - with all five of those goals in a supremely dominant first-half - as they scored more than twice in a game for the first time since August.

Zian Flemming and Josh Laurent both bagged braces, while Josh Cullen also got in on the act as the Clarets extended their unbeaten run to 16 games in league and cup.

Such was Burnley’s dominance, they were even denied three clear penalties, yet the decisions had absolutely no bearing on a one-sided encounter at Home Park.

Defensively supreme yet again, keeping their 19th clean sheet of the campaign, the Clarets finally showed a ruthless edge to their game at the other end of the pitch to hand their goal difference a massive boost.

Perhaps more significantly, it sets up the Clarets perfectly for their potentially decisive promotion showdown with leaders Leeds United on Monday night.

With all of the top four winning in midweek, it means Parker’s side remain third in the table, two points adrift of Sheffield United in second.

Parker opted to make one change to his side from the dramatic 0-0 draw against Sunderland, replacing Bashir Humphreys at left-back with Lucas Pires.

Humphreys was joined on the bench by the returning Hannibal, after the midfielder had served his three-match suspension. Oliver Sonne was the man to make way for Hannibal among the substitutes.

Elsewhere, Mike Tresor was left out again while Jordan Beyer, Aaron Ramsey, Enock Agyei, Manuel Benson and Nathan Redmond all remain sidelined. New signing Jonjo Shelvey, meanwhile, was not quite ready to be selected.

As for Plymouth, rumoured Burnley and Middlesbrough target Morgan Whittaker was left out of their squad completely, which is bound to only intensify the transfer speculation.

The forward was replaced by Nathanael Ogbeta as the only change from Plymouth’s 1-0 defeat to QPR on Saturday.

It was Burnley who were the first side to threaten though as Zian Flemming found himself in some space inside the Plymouth box, but opted to pick out Josh Brownhill instead of shooting and his eventual pullback was cleared behind for a corner.

After a relatively quiet opening, Burnley suddenly sprung into life in the 11th minute with a goal of the highest quality.

Brownhill was the creator, volleying a gorgeous cross towards the six-yard which Zian Flemming dispatched with aplomb - beating goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw with a sublime first-time finish to make it four goals in his last four games.

The Dutchman could easily have added a second shortly afterwards when Maxime Esteve’s header from a free-kick deflected into his path, but Grimshaw scampered off his line quickly to punch clear.

Replays showed the Clarets were a little unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty, as Esteve’s header was stopped by the trailing arm of Argyle defender Victor Palsson.

The only time Plymouth looked mildly threatening early on was when CJ Egan-Riley gifted Ryan Hardie the ball in his own box following a mistake, but Maxime Esteve and Josh Cullen recovered quickly to snuff out the danger.

Burnley remained well in control though and again found themselves on the wrong end of a refereeing decision when Flemming was wrongly ruled offside after being picked out behind Plymouth’s backline.

The confident striker tested Grimshaw with another good opening midway through the first-half when his low shot was well saved having cut back onto his stronger right foot 25 yards from goal.

It continued to be one-way traffic as Lyle Foster had a shot well blocked following a really well worked move, before Josh Laurent’s fierce drive was superbly saved by Grimshaw.

Burnley’s pressure finally told when Flemming swept home his second from close range after being teed up by Jaidon Anthony’s sliding cross.

The visitors had another penalty appeal waved away on the stroke of half-time when a Flemming header from a corner was once again stopped by the arm of Palsson.

An utterly dominant first-half from the Clarets ended with not one, but two more goals in stoppage time.

Laurent followed Flemming in bagging a brace, nodding home from on the goalline from Foster’s pullback following some exquisite football in the build-up. Josh Cullen then made it five, capitalising on a defensive horror show to pass the ball into the back of an empty net.

Plymouth unsurprisingly rang the changes at half-time, bringing three off the bench, while Burnley emerged unchanged.

The away side were denied yet another penalty when Flemming was clearly wrestled to the ground as he attempted to meet Anthony’s teasing ball in.

Parker was given the luxury of taking off two of his key men in Brownhill and Anthony midway through the half to rest them for Monday’s clash with Leeds, as Jeremy Sarmiento and Luca Koleosho entered the fray.

Plymouth did have the ball in the back of Burnley’s net with 15 minutes left on the clock when Mustapha Bundu drilled home, but the clean sheet remained intact thanks to the linesman’s offside flag.

The second-half otherwise petered out as Burnley sat on their dominant lead and made all five changes, resting a number of their key men ahead of their next huge game.

Burnley’s clean sheet did come under threat in stoppage-time when Plymouth got in behind, but thankfully Maxime Esteve was on hand to make the block as the Clarets kept yet another shutout.

TEAMS

Plymouth: Grimshaw, Mumba, Pleguezuelo, Palsson, Ogbeta (Sorinola), Randell (Houghton), Gyabi, Al Hajj (Wright), Baidoo (Finn), Puchacz, Hardie (Bundu)

Subs not used: Cissoko, Baker, Roberts, Issaka

Burnley: Trafford, Roberts, Egan-Riley (Worrall), Esteve, Pires, Cullen, Laurent, Brownhill (Sarmiento), Anthony (Koleosho), Foster (Hannibal), Flemming (Rodriguez)

Subs not used: Hladky, Egan, Humphreys, Barnes

Referee: John Busby