Hapless Burnley made it 100 days without a league win with a chastening defeat away at Sunderland.
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The Clarets were simply no match for a side that joined them in winning promotion from the Championship last season, albeit by finishing 24 points behind.
But the difference between the two sides is now night and day, with the Black Cats demonstrating their dominance with a one-sided victory on home turf - where they remain unbeaten all season.
Burnley, by comparison, were meek and calamitous. Too slow and too predictable in possession, lacking any sort of quality in attack, while looking decidedly shaky all night long at the back.
The damage was done during a torrid first-half, but in truth Burnley were second best all night long.
Now without a win in their last 15 league games, the Clarets find themselves 11 points adrift of safety and staring down the barrel of another instant relegation back to the second tier.
Fan frustration will also begin to build up after a quiet transfer window that ended with just one signing coming into the building.
Burnley are now without a league win in the last 100 days (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)placeholder image
Burnley are now without a league win in the last 100 days (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
Burnley’s one and only January recruit James Ward-Prowse was named on the bench as Parker made just one change to the side that drew 2-2 with Tottenham last time out.
Lyle Foster was the man to come in, replacing Armando Broja, after netting off the bench against Spurs.
The bench, however, looked decidedly different. Oliver Sonne was named on the bench last week but he drops out following his recent loan move to Sparta Prague.
Hjalmar Ekdal and Ashley Barnes were also left out, with Joe Worrall and Zian Flemming taking their places on their respective returns from injury.
Jordan Beyer, Connor Roberts, Josh Cullen, Mike Tresor and Zeki Amdouni all remain sidelined.
Quilindschy Hartman, spotted watching Espanyol’s game on Friday night, was left out of Burnley’s squad for the second game running.
As for Sunderland, they made two changes from their 3-1 defeat to West Ham as Habib Diarra and Chemsdine Talbi came in for Romaine Mundle and Eliezer Mayenda.
After a relatively even start, Diarra - on his return from helping Senegal win the African Cup of Nations - gave Sunderland a ninth-minute lead, albeit with the aid of a heavy deflection.
His strike took a sizable knick off Axel Tuanzebe, wrongfooting Martin Dubravka and seeing the ball bobble into the back of the net. But Burnley only have themselves to blame for being undone far too easily down their left during the build-up.
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The hosts continued to look far more dynamic than Burnley, with Chemsdine Talbi side footing wide after another purposeful attack.
Burnley’s attacks, by comparison, were slow and ponderous, full of sideways passing with very little incision.
Burnley made a hash of two set-pieces in quick succession, leading to the Sky Sports cameras to pan towards Ward-Prowse sitting on the substitute’s bench.
The Burnley fans, meanwhile, housed up in the gods, let their feelings be known as boos rang out, before unleashing a chant of “sidewards and backwards, everywhere we go”.
That frustration only intensified when Diarra doubled Sunderland’s tally with a completely avoidable goal.
The Black Cats immediately broke from another poor Burnley set piece, given the luxury of the entire right flank with Lucas Pires AWOL. Florentino Luis failed to deal with the pullback into the box and Diarra was there to turn home, even though Dubravka probably ought to have done better with the save.
Parker had no option but to change something at the break and that’s what he did, replacing the error-strewn Tuanzebe with Josh Laurent, which also saw a change in system.
It brought about some improvement, with the Clarets at least showing some endeavour and a willingness to get back in the game.
Another double change followed after the hour mark, as Parker threw on Zian Flemming and Armando Broja in a desperate attempt to get something out of the game.
It was Sunderland who nearly grabbed the game’s third goal though, with Brian Brobbey - a thorn in Burnley’s side all night - bringing a smart save out of Dubravka before Nordo Mukiele skied over on the follow up.
A third finally did arrive and it’s fair to say it had been coming, with the home side applying plenty of pressure on a weak Burnley backline.
It was some effort, to be fair, as Talbi curled a delightful effort into the top corner - in off the crossbar - from 25 yards out.
Things almost went from bad to worse for the hapless visitors, but Maxime Esteve produced a block at the back post to deny Trai Hume.
TEAMS
Sunderland: Roefs, Mukiele, Ballard, Alderete (O’Nien), Reinildo, Hume, Sadiki, Le Fee, Talbi (Mundle), Diarra (Geertruida), Brobbey (Isidor)
Subs not used: Moore, Cirkin, Rigg, Mayenda, Jones
Burnley: Dubravka, Walker, Tuanzebe (Laurent), Esteve, Humphreys, Pires, Florentino (Flemming), Ugochukwu, Edwards (Tchaouna), Anthony (Bruun Larsen), Foster (Broja)
Subs not used: Weiss, Worrall, Hannibal, Ward-Prowse
Referee: Paul Tierney
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