Johann Berg Gudmundsson struck twice as Burnley closed in on the Championship title with a 2-0 victory over second-placed 10-man Sheffield United at Turf Moor.
Sheffield United were hampered by the dismissal of the goalkeeper Wes Foderingham after just 17 minutes but their stiff rearguard action was broken by two goals from the Iceland international Gudmundsson, who came on as a half-time substitute.
Burnley secured promotion back to the Premier League 72 hours earlier with a win at Middlesbrough but by beating their nearest rivals, they now need just five points from six games to finish the season as champions.
Sheffield United are one of just two teams who have managed to beat Vincent Kompany’s runaway leaders this season and they did it in spectacular style with a shock 5-2 win in November.
That barely interrupted their run back to the Premier League as they have remained unbeaten in the league ever since – indeed their only defeats have been to the two Manchester clubs in the two cup competitions.
Sheffield United needed the win more than their opponents, but their task became much tougher after just 17 minutes as Nathan Tella chased a ball down the right-hand channel in hope rather than expectation.
Foderingham and the centre-back Jack Robinson had it covered but as they left each other to deal with the situation, the lively Tella nipped in and stole the ball, setting off for the unguarded goal.
In a desperate attempt to stop him, Foderingham caught the Burnley top scorer and sent him tumbling, with the referee Michael Salisbury initially pointing to the penalty spot.
He changed the decision to a free-kick after consulting with the assistant nearest to the incident, but he also brandished a red card at Foderingham.
Burnley struggled to break down the massed ranks of the visitors’ defence in the first half, the best chance coming from the free-kick awarded in the red card incident, as Ian Maatsen landed the ball on the head of Lyle Foster, whose header deflected over the crossbar.
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For the rest of the half Burnley were restricted to two efforts from Jack Cork, one a header wide and the other a shot straight at Adam Davies, while Jordan Beyer’s 25-yard rising drive was tipped over by the substitute goalkeeper.
Kompany responded by replacing Cork and Foster with Gudmundsson and Manuel Benson, and that had the desired effect. The breakthrough came on the hour mark when Burnley took a leaf out of the Sheffield United playbook, with the centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis popping up on the right wing.
His dangerous cross flashed across the six-yard box and when Tella headed it back across, Gudmundsson fired through a crowd of players.
The second goal, 10 minutes later, was an imitation of the first, with Benson this time curving a cross to the far post, again met by Tella – this time with a cushioned sidefoot – which John Egan headed out to set up Gudmundsson for another emphatic finish.
