A perfect Friday night for Burnley
Burnley 4 - 0 Sheffield Wednesday
Burnley made it 12 straight league clean sheets in a row and went two points behind second-placed Sheffield United. However, this wasn't as straightforward as the scoreline suggests.
Wednesday have now conceded 16 without reply against teams in the top five this season and will wonder how they didn't go ahead during a dominant display. This was obviously before Marcus Edwards' 43rd-minute opener.
The away side had several good chances to make it 1-1 before Josh Brownhill and Connor Roberts struck from Jaidon Anthony's crosses.
In the final moments of the game, Manuel Benson struck a goal-of-the-season contender with his weaker right foot from outside the box to compound the visitors' misery. Burnley extend their unbeaten league run to 21 games in style and are really dreaming of promotion and a return to the Premier League.
A closer look at what happened
Marcus Edwards was handed his first start for Burnley after gradually building up his fitness with three substitute appearances since arriving on deadline day. Lyle Foster was the one to make way.
Elsewhere, Lucas Pires slotted in at left-back, replacing Bashir Humphreys, who was absent from the squad entirely.
Burnley remained without Jordan Beyer, Aaron Ramsey, Luca Koleosho, and Mike Tresor, all of whom were still sidelined.
As for Sheffield Wednesday, they made two changes to the side that suffered a late 2-1 defeat to Coventry City last weekend.
Burnley’s impressive defensive record was almost shattered within the first four minutes when Michael Ihiekwe flicked a header just wide from a corner. James Trafford scrambled across his goal but didn’t look like he was going to reach it.
The hosts made a sluggish start and should have been punished on 16 minutes when Stuart Armstrong somehow steered his effort wide from just six yards out after being left unmarked for Djeidi Gassama’s drilled cross.
Burnley had Maxime Esteve to thank for a crucial block to deny Josh Windass, as their goal continued to lead a charmed life.
In many ways, this was a bizarre match. On another night, Sheffield Wednesday might have come away with a point. Instead, they were on the wrong end of a 4-0 score.
How's this for an interesting stat?
This was their 2th clean sheet in a row. There has only been one instance of a better run of clean sheets in English professional football. This was Manchester United in 2008-09 who kept 14 clean sheets.
