Burnley, who now sit atop the Championship standings, defeated Swansea twice to start the new year with a 2-1 victory at the Swansea.com Stadium thanks to two screamers from Dutchman Ian Maatsen.
Swansea was forced into a few mistakes by Burnley's vigorous high press, and Vincent Kompany's team dominated the opening exchanges. Russel Martin's club leads the league in possession statistics, but the visitors were in control from the start.
They forced the game's opening corner and then put pressure on Ben Cabango to pass 30 yards short of his defensive partner Harry Darling, forcing him to foul the slick Nathan Tella. He received a warning, and Maatsen prepared to take the ensuing free kick.
Burnley placed two players in the defensive wall, and they executed their task flawlessly by dropping to the ground to provide Maatsen the ideal opening to fire through and beat Steve Benda in the opposition goal with a shot that deflected off the left upright.
Swansea gradually re-entered the game, and by halftime, they were operating at their typical possession ratio of 65%. In the 18th minute, Ollie Cooper provided Liam Cullen the opportunity to attempt a shot for a potential fourth goal in as many games.
With a left-footed shot, the home striker had Arijanet Muric make a wonderful stop. They were caught off guard when Tella, for the first time, held off Ryan Manning on half-way and then carried the ball infield after posing their biggest threat of the game thus far.
Maatsen was in the open on the left border of the Swansea area as he raced from right to left. This time, he raised his head and fired an unstoppable shot past Benda's astonished hands.
With only 23 minutes remaining, it made it 2-0 to the visitors, and it appeared as though they may match the 4-0 score they recorded when the two clubs faced off at Turf Moor earlier in the season.
Swansea persisted though, and Cooper scored his fourth goal of the year in the 28th minute to make up for a mistake by Muric in which he failed to block an effort from Jay Fulton. When wingback Joel Latibeaudiere was taken down shortly after, the home crowd thought they should have been awarded a penalty, but referee Oliver Langford was having none of it.
Swansea had the upper hand as the first half came to a close, but after a stern warning from Kompany at halftime, Burnley kept the home team on the back foot and comfortably saw out the match, moving six points clear of championship contenders Sheffield United before the Blades' late kickoff.
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