Burnley ended their wait for a Premier League home win in style with a 5-0 rout of fellow strugglers Sheffield United, climbing off the foot of the table and piling pressure on Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom.
Jay Rodriguez needed just 15 seconds to head Vincent Kompany’s side in front and Jacob Bruun Larsen doubled the lead in the 28th minute, with United ending the first half a man down after Oli McBurnie collected two petulant yellow cards in quick succession.
More pain followed for United in the second half as Zeki Amdouni and Luca Koleosho scored two in the space of three minutes before Josh Brownhill added a fifth, giving Burnley their biggest ever Premier League win.
No English league club had ever opened a season with eight home defeats and Burnley could not afford to set that record against a United side who began the day one point better off, with these two starting the day first and second in terms of the worst starts to a Premier League season by promoted sides.
Both Burnley’s wins to date have come against teams promoted alongside them in the summer, but after encouraging displays against Crystal Palace and West Ham, three points offer tangible reward for improving performances.
For United it was another chastening day, the pain of defeat increased by the loss of McBurnie to a needless suspension. There was no sign of the sort of quality that will be needed to get them out of trouble.
Burnley scored the opener with a move straight from kick-off. James Trafford punted the ball forward, Amdouni shifted it to the left and Charlie Taylor whipped in a first-time cross for Rodriguez to head home.
It was the quickest Premier League goal of the season, and made Rodriguez the first player in the league’s history to score in the opening 15 seconds of two separate games, 10 years and one day after he pounced for Southampton against Chelsea.
Burnley doubled their lead when Bruun Larsen got in front of Luke Thomas to reach Dara O’Shea’s long ball, cutting in off the right before passing the ball under the despairing dive of Wes Foderingham.
United’s frustrations soon surfaced. McBurnie, back in the starting 11 after scoring the late consolation in last week’s home defeat to Bournemouth, was lucky to only see yellow for catching O’Shea with an elbow in the 36th minute, leaving Kompany livid on the sideline.
Moments later O’Shea caught McBurnie, who delivered enough theatrics to ensure his counterpart also saw yellow, and Kompany joined both players in the book for his remonstrations.
More was to follow and when McBurnie caught O’Shea with an arm once again in first-half stoppage time, he earned a second yellow card and a head start on the trudge to the dressing room.
Heckingbottom, already forced into one substitution due to an injury for George Baldock, made a triple change at the break as Benie Traore, James McAtee and William Osula came on for Thomas, John Fleck and Cameron Archer.
It meant only half United’s outfield players that started the match were still on for the start of the second half. But it did little to change United’s fortunes and the floodgates opened after the 73rd minute.
Burnley’s third came when United failed to clear a corner and Jordan Beyer headed the ball down for Amdouni to spring between Jack Robinson and Anel Ahmedhodzic before playing the ball beyond Foderingham.
Moments later Koleosho cracked a shot off the crossbar when Foderingham could only parry Amdouni’s shot, but the teenager was soon celebrating his first Premier League goal as he shrugged off a challenge and beat the goalkeeper at his near post.
Brownhill rifled in the fifth from the edge of the box with 10 minutes to go.
Sheffield United return to Championship summit as Norwich thump Plymouth
Sheffield United went back to the top of the Championship following a 3-0 victory over Oxford United at home on Tuesday.
The result was a fifth victory in six matches for Chris Wilder's side, whose only dropped points in that sequence came in a 2-2 draw away to Coventry City last Saturday.
Callum O'Hare got things going for the Blades by scoring his first goal for the club on 10 minutes, before Tyrese Campbell doubled their lead with his fifth strike in six matches.
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi added the third in the second half, and they have now won seven in a row at Bramall Lane without conceding. They lead second-placed Burnley by two points, while Oxford are 18th and two points above the relegation zone after picking up one win in 12.
Elsewhere, Norwich City got their play-off charge back on track with a 6-1 victory at home to Plymouth Argyle.
Borja Sainz helped them on their way with a hat-trick, taking his tally to 15 goals in 19 appearances in all competitions this season.
While the score was 2-1 at half-time, a second-half capitulation leaves Wayne Rooney's side just two places and two points above the relegation zone with teams below them to play on Wednesday.
Burnley got themselves back in second with a 2-0 victory over Coventry at Turf Moor.
Jeremy Sarmiento and CJ Egan-Riley both scored in the second half to give Scott Parker's side three points, while Coventry are 17th and two points off the relegation zone.
As a result of Burnley's result, Sunderland slipped to third in the table after missing the chance to maintain their lead at the top of the table.
Regis Le Bris' side were held to a goalless draw at home to West Brom in a game that had just two shots on target. As a result, the Baggies remain seventh in the table, level on points with sixth-placed Middlesbrough having played a game more.
Young Boys 1-6 Atalanta: De Ketelaere steals the show
Charles De Ketelaere was the driving force for Atalanta in their commanding 6-1 win over Young Boys in the Champions League.
De Ketelaere scored twice and provided three assists as Atalanta – last season's Europa League champions – moved into fourth place in the standings, two points behind leaders Inter.
Star of the show De Ketelaere teed up Mateo Retegui for a ninth-minute opener, though Silvere Ganvoula quickly responded for Young Boys.
It was the first goal conceded by the visitors in the competition this season, but the rest of the half was controlled by Atalanta.
De Ketelaere scored his first in the 28th minute when a corner was flicked to him, and he managed to squeeze in a low shot on the turn.
The Belgium international then set up Sead Kolasinac with a throughball from midfield, and the former Arsenal defender calmly slotted home.
De Ketelaere capped off a dominant first half with his third assist, setting up Retegui once more.
Atalanta's fifth, and De Ketelaere's second, arrived 11 minutes after the restart as he drilled in a low shot from the edge of the box, with some help from a deflection, and Lazar Samardzic made it six in stoppage time.
Data Debrief: King Charles
De Ketelaere became the eighth player to be directly involved in five goals in a single Champions League match.
He is the first Belgian to do so and the first for an Italian side.
De Ketelaere is just the third player to assist three goals in the first half of a Champions League game, after Ryan Giggs for Manchester United against Roma in April 2007 and Carlos Martins for Benfica against Lyon in November 2010.
This was, unsurprisingly, Atalanta's biggest margin of victory in a major European match, while the 6-1 defeat was Young Boys’ joint-biggest home defeat in such competitions, along with their 5-0 loss to Hamburger SV in November 1960.
'We wanted to make a statement' – Arteta revels in thumping win over Sporting
Mikel Arteta revelled in a statement win in the Champions League after Arsenal's 5-1 defeat of Sporting CP.
Sporting, who are under new leadership following Ruben Amorim's departure to Manchester United, were in second place in the standings heading into matchday five, following their 4-1 demolition of Manchester City earlier in November.
Yet the Portuguese team were no match for City's Premier League rivals Arsenal on Tuesday, as the Gunners blew Sporting away in Lisbon.
Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Magalhaes put Arsenal 3-0 up by half-time, and though Goncalo Inacio pulled one back for the hosts, Bukayo Saka's penalty and a late finish from Leandro Trossard completed the rout for Arteta's side.
"I'm very happy, it is a big result against a big opponent," Arteta said, having seen Arsenal accumulate 3.89 expected goals, their most on record for a match in the competition (since 2013-14).
"We wanted to make a statement. I felt a really good energy before the match, but you have to put it into practice.
"The first half was exceptional and gave us the platform to win the game. We were really clever and efficient in the way we attacked them. It is an important win for us.
"The atmosphere was changing [when Sporting scored], they had belief, but after that we showed our personality to get on the ball again, to defend deeper if we needed to and the fourth goal changed it again.
"We have to enjoy it, playing in this competition against these sorts of teams. I was pleased with how the performance flowed."
Arsenal had been in a mini-slump of three games without a win before a 3-0 victory over high-flying Nottingham Forest in the Premier League this past weekend.
Backing up that victory with another dominant display is something they will have to do all season long if they are to be successful, according to Arteta.
"We need the consistency, if you want to be going for championships then you have to win and win again. Today was a different type of game but we handled it well and let's move on now," he said.
Arsenal are next in action on Saturday when they travel to West Ham in the Premier League.
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