Sheffield United 0-2 Burnley: Burnley Blunt The Blades on Boxing Day | OneFootball

Burnley handed Sheffield United their first home defeat of the season, edging a tightly contested Championship clash to move within a point of the league leaders.

A Josh Brownhill header in the 43rd minute saw the Clarets take a lead into the break. And on 53 minutes, Zain Flemming doubled the visitors’ advantage with a very fortuitous ricochet resulting in the ball flying into the top right corner.

Chris Wilder made a couple of changes for the Boxing Day fixture as Vinicius Souza returned to the squad which meant Tom Davies dropped to the bench. Rhian Brewster replaced Jesurun Rak-Sakyi who was left out of the squad due to illness, and Anel Ahmedhodzic was on the bench after recovering from a minor ankle injury.

Lineups

Blades: Cooper, Gilchrist (Ahmedhodžić 72), Souttar, Brewster (Brooks 72), Hamer, Moore, O’Hare (Oné 82) Burrows (McCallum 82), Robinson, Souza (T. Davies 45), Peck.

Unused: A. Davies, Baptiste, Marsh, Blacker.

Burnley: Trafford, Estève, Egan-Riley, Brownhill, Anthony, Humphreys, Roberts, Flemming (Foster 86), Cullen, Mejbri (Egan 86), Laurent.

Unused: Hladky, Worrall, Rodriguez, Ekdal, Pires, Koleosho, Hountondji.

First Half

The game began with Sheffield United dictating play, using their high press to force Burnley deep into their own half and back to their goalkeeper. Rhian Brewster drew a cynical foul from Josh Cullen early on, earning the Burnley midfielder a yellow card. Despite a couple of corners for the Blades, there were no clear chances to speak of.

Burnley, however, looked dangerous on the counter. Their methodical build-up paid dividends just before the break. After a swift move down the flank, Josh Brownhill ghosted in at the back post to score with a diving header from a pinpoint cross from Humphreys, giving the visitors the lead with the first half’s only shot on target.

Second Half

Sheffield United started the second half brightly, with Souttar testing Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford with a header, though it was comfortably saved. Tensions escalated as bookings piled up, with Gilchrist seeing yellow for a foul on Hannibal Mejbri.

Then came a real scrappy phase of the game as the referee seemed to miss multiple fouls in favour of United in the final third, and this is what led to Burnley’s second after Cullen, who was already on a booking, clearly fouled O’Hare on the edge of the away team’s box.

Seconds later, Burnley doubled their advantage eight minutes into the second half in fortuitous circumstances. Firstly, a free-kick came about for Burnley after the referee failed to give United a clear free-kick at the other end of the pitch. After Flemming’s initial free-kick struck the wall, his rebound effort took a wicked deflection, looping high into the net and leaving Blades keeper Michael Cooper stranded.

The Blades responded with a flurry of attacks, but Burnley’s disciplined defence and Trafford’s assured goalkeeping kept them at bay. Substitute Tom Davies came close in the 77th minute, and then Ahmedhodzic fired wide from the edge of the box after a chaotic clearance in the 79th minute.

Sheffield United will be hoping for a better display and result on Sunday afternoon when they host West Bromwich Albion.