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Andre Gray has scored four goals in two matches after a run of 10 games without a goal

Andre Gray became the first Burnley player to score a Premier League hat-trick as the Clarets comfortably defeated a poor Sunderland side. 

Gray, who was playing in the sixth tier of English football with Hinckley United in 2012, netted his first after a defensive mix-up between John O'Shea and Papy Djilobodji. 

The striker rounded Vito Mannone for his second before completing his treble with a low shot from Ashley Barnes' pass. 

Barnes converted a penalty to make it 4-0, before a consolation goal from Jermain Defoe after good play from Adnan Januzaj. 

How the goals went in

31 mins (1-0, Gray): Centre-halves O'Shea and Djilobodji both challenged for the same ball, it hit O'Shea's shoulder and bounced backwards.  The ball fell to Gray who ran through and his shot was too powerful for Mannone. 

51 mins (2-0, Gray): A speculative ball was hit forward and Gray held off a challenge from Djilobodji and got to the ball before Mannone, who had sprinted out of his penalty area.  Gray rounded the keeper and put it into an empty net. 

53 mins (3-0, Gray): Sunderland substitute Steven Pienaar stood on the ball and that allowed Burnley to hit a ball into Barnes, who had time and space to pick a pass to Gray and he steered his shot past Mannone. 

67 mins (4-0, Barnes): Barnes converted a spot-kick after Seb Larsson had bundled Scott Arfield to the floor in the penalty area. 

71 mins (4-1, Defoe): Januzaj dinked in a pass to the back post that evaded the head of Ben Mee.  Defoe took a touch to set himself and shot from close range past Tom Heaton. 

Burnley only had six shots on targets, but scored four times (represented by football graphics).  Their other on-target attempts came from Ashley Barnes (number 10) and Scott Arfield (37)

Sunderland's injury and defensive problems continue

Sunderland end 2016 in the relegation zone and boss David Moyes will surely be furious with a woeful performance from his side. 

They have a lengthy injury list that includes Jordan Pickford, Paddy McNair, Lee Cattermole, Jan Kirchhoff and Duncan Watmore and they suffered more problems at Turf Moor. 

Defender Lamine Kone went off after clattering into an advertising hoarding, before striker Victor Anichebe pulled up with a hamstring injury. 

Sunderland defender Lamine Kone was expected to represent Ivory Coast in January's Africa Cup of Nations

Kone's injury proved crucial as Sunderland were terrible defensively from that point onwards.  Three of the four goals came from simple balls forward that should have been dealt with, while the fourth came after a rash challenge. 

To make things worse for the Black Cats, they could now lose Wahbi Khazri (Tunisia) and Didier Ndong (Gabon) to the Africa Cup of Nations in January, with Moyes unlikely to have much money to spend in the transfer window. 

Sunderland are in their 10th successive campaign in the top flight and only avoided relegation from the Premier League in the penultimate game of last season.  Many more defensive performances like this will see them ending 2017 in the Championship. 

Man of the match - Andre Gray (Burnley)

Andre Gray scored with each of his three shots on target and now has five Premier League goals this season

Stats - Clarets continue to impress at home

All but one of Burnley's 23 Premier League points this season have been earned at home. 

Burnley are the first newly promoted Premier League side to win seven of their first 11 home games since Charlton Athletic in 2000-01. 

Sunderland have lost four successive away games for the first time since November 2015, conceding 12 goals and scoring only two. 

Defoe has now scored in 130 Premier League games.  Only Alan Shearer, Andy Cole, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney have scored in more matches. 

What they said

Burnley manager Sean Dyche: "This has been a good week for sure, the end of a good calendar year for us at Burnley. 

"I'm pleased with our calmness today, and we felt we could get the ball down more.  We want to mix our football and we were productive.  Andre Gray got his hat-trick today, great for both himself and the team. 

"We'd like to think we are a persistent team, though the Premier League is a tough division and whoever you play won't make it easy.  We have to do what we can, be effective, and I think we were today.  We are learning about how to deal with this league. 

"We don't overthink every game, but we always want to challenge.  You have got to get points on the board and so far this season we have done that.  As a unit, we think we can be effective, can be a real team and take this challenge on." 

Dyche satisfied after 'good week'

Burnley striker Andre Gray, who also scored in the 1-0 win over Middlesbrough on 26 December, added: "It's been a massive week, two big wins against the teams around us. 

"It's massive for me to score a hat-trick - four years ago I never thought I'd be playing in the Premier League, never mind scoring three in one game.  I have had to work hard, do the right things and hope that it'll pay off.  Today, obviously it has. 

"We are only halfway through the season though - a lot can change.  We need to dig in and stay up." 

Sunderland manager David Moyes: "We were dire today, really, really bad.  It was a poor performance, and defensively especially we were all over the place. 

"You have to do the old-fashioned defensive things well and we didn't.  My players were well-briefed on the opposition and you just have to hope they take that into the game. 

"We made the same mistakes time and time again; missed headers, missed bouncing balls, the same stuff.  The players have to take responsibility as well as me, and that was dire, as bad as anything I have been involved in here.  I can't walk into the dressing room and say "Yeah, that was great lads."  It wasn't. 

"We have to stick together, but today defensively we were poor.  We threatened at times going forward but we couldn't defend.  You can ask me questions about myself and my future, that's fine.  We're in the bottom three, I know that." 

Sunderland performance was 'dire' - Moyes

What's next? 

Both teams have tough challenges in their next matches. 

Burnley play at Manchester City and Sunderland host Liverpool, with both matches kicking off at 15:00 GMT on Monday, 2 January. 

Sunderland will be without defender Billy Jones after he picked up his fifth booking of the season following a rash sliding tackle on Stephen Ward.