Burnley, Middlesbrough, West Brom, Preston and Watford secure Championship wins
- Simon Wilkes
- 2 January 2023
Championship leaders Burnley saw off Swansea 2-1, play-off chasing Middlesbrough, Preston and West Brom also secured victories while Watford pinched a 1-0 win at managerless Norwich City on Monday.
Burnley strengthened their position at the top of the table as their victory made it six league wins in a row for Vincent Kompany's side.
Ian Maatsen fired Burnley into a 2-0 lead with two fine goals in the space of 10 first-half minutes, and although Ollie Cooper pulled one back in the 27th minute, the Clarets hung on for three more points in their pursuit of promotion.
Maatsen opened the scoring with a free-kick in the 12th minute, with two Burnley men infiltrating the wall and quickly making space for the Dutchman to beat Steve Benda with a shot off the left-hand post.
The second was even better as Maatsen took the ball from Nathan Tella on the edge of the area and unleashed a powerful shot which left Benda with no chance.
Cooper got his fourth of the season when Aro Muric fumbled a Jay Fulton shot, but Swansea saw penalty appeals waved away when Joel Latibeaudiere went down in the box and could not find a leveller.
Watford moved up to fourth as substitute Vakoun Bayo grabbed a late goal to defeat Norwich 1-0 at Carrow Road.
The Hornets put back-to-back defeats behind them as Bayo finished off a swift counter-attack with three minutes left against the managerless Canaries.
And Middlesbrough are only a point behind Watford in fifth place after securing a sixth win in seven, beating Birmingham 3-1 away from home.
All the goals came in the second half, with Matt Crooks scoring two in three minutes before setting up another.
Crooks was unmarked to head in Jonny Howson's cross in the 57th minute, and seconds later he pounced on a mistake from George Friend to add a second.
Although Tahith Chong pulled one back, Crooks then played in Chuba Akpom to make sure of the points for Michael Carrick's side.
West Brom moved to within a point of the play-off places as Daryl Dike's 60th-minute goal was enough to beat Reading 1-0 and make it eight wins from their last nine.
Albion fans continued their protests against controlling shareholder and chairman Guochuan Lai off the pitch, but will have been encouraged by events on it as Dike got his first home goal after a string of injuries.
Rock-bottom Wigan suffered a third 4-1 defeat in the space of seven days as Hull moved away from danger with victory at the DW Stadium.
Hull led with 17 minutes gone through Jacob Greaves and should have added to their lead before substitute Nathan Broadhead levelled for Wigan just after the hour.
But after Hull regained the lead with 12 minutes left via a deflected strike from Oscar Estupian, Wigan imploded with Tyler Smith scoring twice late on.
Ched Evans headed in a winner in the third minute of time added on as Preston snatched a 1-0 victory at Stoke in a game that had seen kick-off delayed due to traffic problems in the area.
