Soccer Football - Premier League - Burnley v Sheffield United - Turf Moor, Burnley, Britain - December 2, 2023 Burnley's Josh Brownhill celebrates after the match Action Images via Reuters/Ed Sykes
BURNLEY, England (Reuters) -Burnley produced a dazzling display to crush 10-man Sheffield United 5-0 at Turf Moor on Saturday and secure their first home points of the Premier League season.
Burnley, who started the game bottom of the table and the only team in the top four divisions without a home point, moved them up two places to 18th as United dropped to 19th.
The two teams were involved in a title race in last season's Championship, but as was the case in that campaign Vincent Kompany's side possessed more quality and dominated the match.
With fans still settling in their seats, Burnley went ahead after 15 seconds when United failed to deal with Charlie Taylor's cross and Jay Rodriguez directed a glancing header into the back of the net.
Rodriguez's goal made him the first player in Premier League history to score in the opening 15 seconds of two separate matches, adding to his strike for Southampton in 2013 against Chelsea.
Jacob Bruun Larsen doubled Burnley's advantage in the 29th minute after racing on to Dara O'Shea's long ball, which he controlled with an excellent touch before dispatching a tidy finish past Wes Foderingham.
"It felt like our performances have been good for a while now. After the disappointment comes a moment of reward. I have to congratulate the lads. I'm happy for them," Kompany told Sky Sports.
"The lads deserve all the credit they can get it. It's not been a one-off. We've had performances like that this season."
United's frustration at their dreadful performance shone through when Oli McBurnie was shown a yellow card for swinging his elbow into O'Shea's face and was sent off for again elbowing O'Shea before halftime.
Manager Paul Heckingbottom made a triple change at the interval, bringing on Benie Traore, William Osula and James McAtee, but the substitutions changed little as Burnley proved even more dominant with a man advantage.
United's best chance came in the 68th minute, when Gustavo Hamer went on a mazy run and played Osula through on goal, but Burnley keeper James Trafford was quick off his line to make the save.
If that chance instilled any hope of a comeback in the travelling section of fans, it was quickly snuffed out as Zeki Amdouni and Luca Koleosho scored in quick succession to complete the rout for Burnley.
Captain Josh Brownley added the icing on the cake in the 80th minute with an emphatic side-footed finish from the edge of the area which sealed the Lancashire club's biggest-ever Premier League win.
The win was also the joint-biggest by a team sitting bottom of the Premier League table, matching Sheffield Wednesday's 5-0 hammering of Bolton Wanderers in 1997.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
