Lyle Foster played a decisive role as Burnley scored twice within three minutes in the first half and thwarted a second-half comeback attempt by bottom side Sheffield United, securing a 4-1 win on Saturday.
Burnley, currently in 19th place, moved to 23 points from 34 matches, three below 17th-placed Nottingham Forest who have a game in hand and visit 16th-placed Everton on Sunday.
United, winless since February, have 16 points after 33 games. Jacob Bruun Larsen put the visitors ahead in the 38th minute when Wilson Odobert's attempt hit a defender and fell to him on the edge of the box.
His shot took a deflection from Jayden Bogle before rolling past keeper Ivo Grbic.
Lyle Foster gets his fifth goal of the season, his first in 2024 ⚽
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) April 20, 2024
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Poor defending cost United again as Burnley immediately doubled their lead, with Lorenz Assignon dribbling past Ben Brereton Diaz to score his first goal for the club from 12 yards out.
Burnley keeper Arijanet Muric, who had denied the hosts an early lead with back-to-back saves, was finally beaten in the 52nd minute when Gustavo Hamer shook off Assignon to make space inside the box and sent a curling shot into the net.
But Assignon helped restore Burnley's lead just five minutes later when his cross from the edge of the box found Lyle Foster near the penalty spot who made no mistake with his swift right-footed finish.
This is our idea of a very nice day out 😀 pic.twitter.com/2soYl0df2T
— Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) April 20, 2024
Substitute Johann Berg Gudmundsson made it 4-1 just 22 seconds after coming on, finding the target off Josh Cullen's cross with a left-footed finish from the edge of the box and sealing Burnley's first away win since December.
Both teams will visit Manchester United next, with Sheffield United playing on Wednesday and Burnley on Saturday.