Leeds United suffered their first defeat of the Championship season as they were beaten 1-0 at home by fellow promotion hopefuls Burnley.

Daniel Farke’s side came into Saturday's encounter having won back-to-back matches against Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City, but their momentum was halted by their clinical visitors.

Burnley forward Luca Koleosho scored the only goal of the game the day before his 20th birthday.

Koleosho took advantage of a slip from Manor Solomon after 18 minutes, before sprinting 70 yards and drilling a shot past Leeds goalkeeper Ilan Meslier.

That proved to be enough to inflict on Leeds a third home league defeat in six matches going back to last season, despite the hosts applying plenty of pressure as they sought an equaliser.

Burnley's Bashir Humphreys was sent off eight minutes into stoppage time at the end of the match, but Leeds were unable to find a way through.

Elsewhere in Saturday's early Championship kick-offs, Luton Town claimed their first win since relegation from the Premier League.

Teden Mengi's fine early effort from the edge of the penalty area was enough to beat Millwall 1-0 away from home.

While Luton have ground to make up in the promotion race, Oxford United's surprise challenge continues on the back of their 100% home record.

That was maintained with a deserved 1-0 victory over Stoke City, with Idris El Mizouni netting the winner three minutes into the second half.

Burnley thrashed Cardiff City 5-0 to continue their perfect start to the season and go top of the early Championship standings.

Having started life under Scott Parker with a 4-1 win at Luton Town on Monday, the Clarets produced another dazzling display on their first home outing of 2024-25.

Ethan Horvath's own goal after just nine minutes gave them the lead and they never looked back from there, with further goals from Luca Koleosho, Josh Brownhill, Zeki Amdouni and Johann Berg Gudmundsson giving them a handsome win one day after they sold star winger Wilson Odobert to Tottenham.

Watford also made it two wins out of two with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Stoke City at Vicarage Road, with Edo Kayambe grabbing a brace and Ryan Andrews also netting.

Managerless Preston North End, meanwhile, continued their woeful start to the campaign as they fell to a 3-0 defeat at Swansea City.

Bristol City sit just two points off the pace after edging Millwall in a seven-goal epic, their new signing Scott Twine coming off the bench to net the winner in a 4-3 triumph.

Twine's 88th-minute effort decided a game in which the Robins threw away an early 2-0 lead to go 3-2 down, with Fally Mayulu dragging them back to 3-3 with 12 minutes to play.

Finally, Blackburn Rovers began life without Sammie Szmodics with a battling 2-2 draw away at Norwich City, with Yuki Ohashi scoring with just three minutes left.

Josh Sargent had a goal and an assist for the Canaries, and he has now netted 11 times in home Championship fixtures in 2024, more than any other player.

Burnley’s survival hopes have suffered a significant blow with winger Luca Koleosho facing several months out with a knee injury.

The 19-year-old summer signing from Espanyol has been one of Burnley’s brightest lights so far this term and scored his first goal for the club in Saturday’s 5-0 win over Sheffield United.

But the Italy under-21 international was hurt in the first half of Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat at Wolves and, after initially trying to carry on, was forced off with 36 minutes gone.

“It’s bad news for us,” manager Vincent Kompany said. “He’s going to be out for a while apparently…I’d like to think he’ll still play this season but it might be towards the end of the season.”

Kompany would not disclose the precise nature of Koleosho’s injury but the loss of the pacy and incisive young forward is a major setback for a team who, Saturday’s big win aside, have struggled to score goals all season.

“We’ll do everything we can to make sure that he’ll get back healthy and ready to go again,” Kompany added. “I think now the key concern for us is to make sure he doesn’t sustain any long-term damage because he’s still young, we’ll do everything right by him…

“Past the fact that it’s a blow for a young player, I still think it’s for someone else now to step up and wear the shirt in a way that Luca has done.

“In these moments if you keep your head calm you can really get better, get stronger from these moments. I’ve no doubt he’ll come back stronger but for us short-term wise it’s an undeniable blow.”

But when asked if Koleosho’s injury could force Burnley into the January transfer market, Kompany said it was unlikely a club that signed 15 players in the summer would be busy next month.

“The squad is still fairly large and we don’t have unlimited resources,” Kompany said. “If we can find a way to improve the squad drastically we’ll do that but if it’s just to add numbers that’s not what we’re out for…

“I don’t see how we could drastically go out there and drastically spend our way into staying in this division. It would have to be one or two really smart deals if we can find them.

“You’re not necessarily in the strongest position when you’re at the bottom of the league to make a case to a player to commit his future to you, but there might be an opportunity.

“The key thing for us is also making sure the players we have now and the clear improvements you see, that they keep that progress level up.

“The likes of Zeki (Amdouni) or Sander Berge, these guys, their performance has improved that much from two months ago and they’ve got that much left to go, that could be the key factor for us in turning performances into results.”

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