Report | Swansea City 0 Burnley 2
Swansea City were beaten at the Swansea.com Stadium as two early goals gave promotion-chasing Burnley the spoils.
Josh Brownhill’s close-range finish had the Clarets ahead inside four minutes, and Jaidon Anthony would add to their tally before 23 minutes had elapsed.
From that point the visitors – unbeaten in the league since November 3 – never looked likely to relinquish their advantage, although Swansea will look back at a few opportunities, most notably a Ronald header, and feel they could have set up a tight finish.
But it was not to be as the Swans rounded off a gruelling period of four games in just 11 days with defeat.
The Swans had shown just the one change from defeat against Watford, with Kyle Naughton coming in for Hannes Delcroix, who was ineligible to face his parent club.
There was also a place for Arthur Parker on the bench as the 18-year-old defender was included in a matchday squad for the first time.
Swansea enjoyed a couple of bright early moments with Jisung Eom and Zan Vipotnik threatening to get in behind.
But they fell behind in just the fourth minute when the Clarets found Zian Flemming in space on the left, and his low cross was turned in by captain Brownhill.
To concede so early against a Burnley side who had let in just 11 league goals all season was not a omen, and the visitors controlled possession in the spell following the opener.
They would add their second in the 21st minute through Anthony. Swansea were unable to hold onto the ball just inside their own half and when Brownhill volleyed a high cross to the back post it was met by the forward.
Naughton blocked his initial shot, and Flemming’s follow-up was also denied, but when the ball rolled back to Anthony once more, he rifled the ball high into the net.
Swansea then put together a neat passage of play that ended with Josh Tymon sending Eom into room on the left side of the area, but his low deflected cross was gratefully gathered in by James Trafford.
At the other end Lawrence Vigouroux was called into action to parry a firm drive from Marcus Edwards, before Maxime Esteve headed over after the Swans had half-cleared the resulting corner.
With 10 minutes until half-time Swansea had penalty appeals waved away when Goncalo Franco’s low cross struck CJ Egan-Riley on his arm, but referee Oliver Langford signalled for a corner rather than a spot-kick and the hosts remained two goals adrift at the interval.
They should have been three down within seconds of the restart as Anthony tricked his way into the area but fired wastefully wide as he tried to find the top corner.
Vigouroux then denied Edwards from an acute angle with his feet after slick interplay had worked the Burnley man in on goal near the byline.
Ronald came close to feeding Liam Cullen in behind the Burnley defence, but Josh Laurent made an important intervention for the visitors, with Josh Key doing likewise at the other end for the Swans as Anthony came close to picking out Flemming.
Vipotnik’s blocked shot then threatened to land for Lewis O’Brien in the box but Trafford was out quickly to mop up.
Swansea’s clearest chance came with 20 minutes to go, Tymon produced an excellent delivery from the left but Ronald could only steer his free header wide as he sent the ball back across goal.
Swansea City: Lawrence Vigouroux; Josh Key, Ben Cabango (captain), Kyle Naughton (Cyrus Christie 77), Josh Tymon; Lewis O’Brien (Joe Allen 73), Gonçalo Franco (Jay Fulton 57); Ronald (Sam Parker 73), Liam Cullen, Jisung Eom (Ollie Cooper 57); Žan Vipotnik.
Unused Substitutes: Jon McLaughlin, Josh Ginnelly, Florian Bianchini, Arthur Parker.
Burnley: James Trafford, Maxime Esteve, CJ Egan-Riley, Josh Brownhill (captain), Jaidon Anthony (Ashley Barnes 89), Connor Roberts, Zian Flemming (Lyle Foster 70), Marcus Edwards (Hannibal Mejbri 69), Lucas Pires, Josh Cullen, Josh Laurent.
Unused Substitutes: Vaclav Hladky, Oliver Sonne, Joe Worrall, Jeremy Sarmiento, Manuel Benson, Luca Koleosho.
Referee: Oliver Langford
Attendance: 13,679