Swansea City 0-2 Burnley: Clarets climb into top two to pile pressure on Sheffield United

First-half goals from Josh Brownhill and Jaidon Anthony were enough to secure the three points as Scott Parker’s men extended their unbeaten run to 25 league games.

The Clarets were in clinical form in front of goal, with the two goals coming from their first two chances of the game.

Once two goals ahead, they never looked in much trouble as they breezed to another clean sheet, their 27th of the campaign.

With Sheffield United not in action until tomorrow, Burnley took full advantage to leapfrog their promotion rivals into second. In the process, they also close the gap to leaders Leeds to just two points after they played out a 2-2 draw against QPR in the early kick-off.

Parker made just one change to the side that drew 1-1 with West Brom on Tuesday night, as Josh Laurent came in for Hannibal.

Elsewhere, CJ Egan-Riley started as normal after the Clarets successfully appealed against the red card he was shown at full-time against the Baggies.

Lyle Foster was also fit enough to feature on the bench despite suffering a dead leg during the final stages of the midweek draw.

Jordan Beyer, Bashir Humphreys, Jonjo Shelvey, Aaron Ramsey, Enock Agyei and Mike Tresor all remain sidelined.

As for Swansea, loanee Hannes Delcroix was ineligible to face his parent club as caretaker boss Alan Sheehan made one change from the midweek 1-0 defeat to Watford. Kyle Naughton was the man to take Delcroix’s place in defence.

With just four minutes on the clock, Burnley took the lead with their very first attack of the game.

Unsurprisingly Josh Brownhill was the scorer, netting his 13th of the campaign, after Jaidon Anthony and Zian Flemming had combined well on the break.

Anthony played in Flemming down the left channel and the Dutchman showed the composure to slide the ball across goal for the skipper to tap home.

Swansea were being very generous with the ball, giving up possession in their own half on quite a few occasions during the opening exchanges.

Burnley made it two goals from two chances in the 21st minute when Anthony lashed home high into the net after Swansea had cleared two efforts off the line.

Parker’s men flooded the Swansea box as both Brownhill and Flemming were denied from close range, before Anthony made sure with his fourth of the campaign.

The visitors smelt a third, with Marcus Edwards trying his luck from range only to see his fierce drive well pushed away by former Claret Lawrence Vigouroux.

The supreme Maxime Esteve then headed over with an awkward chance as Edwards curled in a teasing cross from the resulting corner.

The hosts wanted a penalty just before half-time when a cross was smacked into the hand of CJ Egan-Riley, who knew very little about it. But referee Oliver Langford ignored the appeals.

The Clarets made a positive start to the second-half, signalling their intention to chase a third rather than sit on their two-goal lead.

They almost found it too when Anthony danced his way into the Swansea box before curling narrowly wide of the upright.

Another presentable opening came Burnley’s way as Edwards beat Vigouroux to the ball, but his pullback was cleared away from danger.

The game appeared to be fizzling out, which suited Burnley just fine. But Swansea could have made things a little awkward when they created a big chance for the unmarked Ronald at the back post, but he somehow managed to head wide of the target.

Other than that, Burnley were never in danger and you never sensed Swansea had any belief they could get back in the game.

Instead, the Clarets ought to have added a third during the final 10 minutes when substitute Lyle Foster was only able to head straight at Vigouroux from Anthony’s lofted cross.

Parker’s men saw out the remaining minutes to claim one of their most comfortable victories of the season – with all focus now turning to Hillsborough for the Sheffield derby.

TEAMS

Swansea: Vigouroux, Key, Cabango, Naughton (Christie), O’Brien (Allen), Tymon, Franco (Fulton), Cullen, Ronald (S. Parker), Eom (Cooper), Vipotnik

Subs not used: McLaughlin, Ginnelly, Bianchini, A. Parker

Burnley: Trafford, Roberts, Egan-Riley, Esteve, Pires, Cullen, Laurent, Brownhill, Edwards (Hannibal), Anthony (Barnes), Flemming (Foster)

Subs not used: Hladky, Worrall, Sonne, Benson, Koleosho, Sarmiento

Referee: Oliver Langford