Burnley pulled off a dominant 3-0 away win at Queens Park Rangers to move three points above the Championship table on Sunday.
Sheffield United had leveled on points on Saturday with a 1-0 win over Huddersfield, but first-half goals from Johann Gudmunsson and Ian Maatsen set the pace to give the Clarets a deserved win.
It was interesting to see if Burnley could regain their form with the league resuming after a month-long World Cup break in progress, but Gudmunsson’s fine free-kick calmed nerves early at Loftus Road.
The home side could have leveled if Chris Willock hadn’t squandered a golden opportunity and had to pay when Maatsen scored in first-half stoppage time.
QPR goalkeeper Seny Dieng saved Vitinha’s free kick well, but left-back Maatsen saved the rebound to give his team a comfortable 2-0 lead at half-time.
QPR match without manager
QPR are currently without a manager after the departure of head coach Micheal Beale, who left to take the reins at Scottish giant Rangers. The hosts hardly bothered the visiting team after the restart.
Nathan Tella made it 3-0 on 71 minutes after Burnley made the most of a Jimmy Deane mistake. The former Burnley player delivered a catastrophic back chest pass allowing Tella to come in, the latter rounding Dinag before scoring from a tight angle.
QPR slide across the table
This was QPR’s fourth successive league defeat leaving them ninth in the table and the pecking order at Loftus Road must act quickly to ensure their season does not fade away.
However, Burnley would be delighted by the performance with the aim of securing promotion to their Premier League after being relegated last season.
Vincent Kompany’s side have scored 43 goals this season and this was the seventh time they managed to find the back of the net at least three times in a match.
Kompany later said: “They did well and worked hard to make sure they had momentum.
We bring you the game. I think we played very well in the first half and we did everything we set out to do perfectly.
In the second half we had a period where we needed to push ourselves and be a bit more compact and organized, and even then we did well and were still dangerous. The boys can be proud.”
Photo credit: IMAGO / Action Plus
