LIFE SAVER
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PAUL CLEMENT insisted he made the right decision in selling Jack Cork to the Clarets for £10M in the summer.
But with Swansea’s American owner Steve Kaplan looking on at Turf Moor the under-pressure manager will surely have changed his mind.
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For the midfielder who made his debut for England in the last four minutes in the recent friendly against Germany ran the show.
And he also put Sean Dyche’s men ahead.
The Clarets were going for a third successive win in the top flight for the first time since December 1975 – and that went at it hammer and tongs.
Almost from the first minute the Swansea defence looked devoid of cohesion and Dyche’s men sensed it.
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Luckily for the Swans Lukasz Fabianski was the odd one out amongst a rearguard that played like rabbits in headlights.
Had he not been on his toes he would have picked the ball out of the net three times in the opening 20 minutes.
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And during that sequence he produced a sensational stop to deny a point – blank header from Ashley Barnes.
Yet even he could do nothing about another black hole in front of him from which Cork got his opener.
Cork himself fed Barnes who laid off for Brady and with the Swans defence again all over the place the 28 year old was able to pick his spot with the header that gave him his second Prem goal for Burnley.
The Clarets were well on their way to that record by the 40th minute as Barnes smashed home his side’s second.
Clement, having saved the Swans from going under was meanwhile looking at a far different record.
A fourth successive league defeat would equal the club’s worst – ever run in the top flight and by the end Welsh voices could be heard chanting: “We want Clements out!”
FACTS, STATS, GOALS & LOLS
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The Clarets have won three consecutive top-flight games for the first time since December and January 1975.
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Burnley have kept clean sheets in six of their last eight league matches, including each of the last two.
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They have claimed 22 points from their first 12 games this season - their best start to a top-flight season since 1973-74 (when they would have had 24 points if adjusted to three points for a win).
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Sean Dyche's side have conceded just two Premier League goals at home this term - only Manchester United and Liverpool have better records.
- Swansea have lost six of their last seven Premier League games, winning the other against Huddersfield.
- Today’s defeat equals Swansea's longest losing streak in the top flight. They have done this on five previous occasions, most recently in December 2016.
Watford take on West Ham in our Sunday Premier League preview
SOCIAL SAYS
WHAT THEY SAID
Burnley striker Ashley Barnes: "We're on a fantastic run. We're working hard every day and today we were different class.
"Can we finish the season now? No, I'm kidding. there's still a long way to go and we need to pick up as many points as possible."
Swansea boss Paul Clement: "We had a bright start but when we conceded the first goal it affected our confidence.
"Our confidence is clearly on a downward spiral, Burnley are very good at making you make errors and capitalizing on them. "We have to find a way to break that because as a team, we are capable of more.
"As a side, we are playing under our potential and I have to find a way to break this cycle.
"We have to find a way to grind out a win and get the best out of our players.
"We're not getting the results at the moment but they're not far away and I see no reason why those results won't come against Bournemouth next week."
DREAM TEAM RATINGS
BURNLEY: Pope 7, Lowton 7, Tarkowski 7, Mee 6, Ward 6, Gudmundsson 7, Defour 6, Cork 8, Brady 7, Hendrick 7 (Vokes, 80), Barnes 8
Subs not used: Lindegaard, Taylor, Long, Westwood, Wells, Arfield.
SWANSEA: Fabianski 6, Naughton 7, Fernandez 6, Mawson 6, Olsson 6, Fer 6 ( Ki Sung-yueng 70,6) Sanches 6, Sam, Ayew 6 (Bony45, 7) Abraham 6 (Narsingh,82,6), Dyer 5
Subs not used: van der Hoorn, Nordfeldt, Routledge
STAR MAN: ASHLEY BARNES (BURNLEY)