Burnley FC have a scarily good double act emerging at Turf Moor | OneFootball

Defence has been the bedrock of Burnley's success this season, with their centre-back duo largely taking the plaudits

Thanks to three wins in a week, Burnley are sitting pretty in the Championship's automatic promotion places, and with three clean sheets in those games, it's clear to see what their success has been built on.

Indeed, defence has been the bedrock of the Clarets' success all season, with Scott Parker's side boasting a Championship record low of six goals conceded after 18 games of the season.

Defensive success has been supplemented by attacking struggles in spells this season, but it's in those dark times that they haven't been able to score goals that their dogged back line has at least been able to see them claim a point where they may otherwise have lost.

But now Parker's side have found their groove going forward, and their defence is still as strong, they're a force to be reckoned with in the Championship.

Most of their defensive success comes down to their centre-back pairing of Maxime Esteve and CJ Egan-Riley, who've been constants at the heart of Burnley's back line for over two months now.

Parker stumbled upon the pairing earlier in the season

Things were looking rather bleak for Burnley when they journeyed up to Sunderland back in August - without a handful of senior players due to ongoing transfer issues, they were beaten 1-0 on what was a dark day for the football club.

Parker looked visibly disappointed in his post-match interview, and the fans were understandably disheartened, but as it turned out, one great thing came out of that bleak Wearside afternoon.

That was that it gave Burnley fans a first glimpse of an Egan-Riley and Esteve centre-back pairing, and although the Clarets were soundly beaten that day, the two defenders showed promising signs.

Perhaps harshly, Egan-Riley was dropped for the incoming Joe Worrall after that game, but an injury to the former Nottingham Forest man opened the door back up to the Manchester City academy graduate and he's never looked back since.

Playing outside of his natural position, Egan-Riley has struck up a perfect partnership with Esteve - one which is now imperative to the Clarets success.

Egan-Riley and Esteve are now an unbreakable duo

Next-to no Burnley fans would've suggested back in August that Egan-Riley would become one of the first names on the teamsheet, but at the moment he certainly is.

Alongside Esteve - one right-footer, one left-footer - the Clarets have the perfect balance to their back line and that is almost certainly why teams are struggling to score against them.

With the pair both comfortable on the ball and athletic enough to recover out of possession, they're the perfect modern-day centre-backs, and losing just one of them would almost certainly be detrimental to Burnley's season.

Other teams in the league will be looking at the duo and hoping Esteve gets picked off in January amid Premier League interest, but fans will be hoping Chairman Alan Pace looks at the situation and sees just how important the pair are to their success.

It wouldn't be too rash to suggest that their promotion hopes hinge on these two remaining fit and available all season, as with doubts still lingering over Burnley's attack, the defence has to remain solid.