BURNLEY slipped to back-to-back Premier League defeats after being outdone by four-star Fulham.

Fulham began brightly and had their first chance as early as the second minute.

Andre Schurrle received the ball in the right channel and worked it onto his left foot to unleash a shot that curled narrowly wide of the far left post from just outside the right of the area.

Burnley were limiting the hosts to shots from distance in these opening stages, but that did not deter them as Jean Micheal Seri, who broke the deadlock with a drive into the top right corner from outside of the box.

The Clarets quickly shook off the shock of their dreadful start to mount a recovery, weathering the early storm in the pouring rain to get back on level terms.

Matt Lowton tried to play Hendrick in down the right channel but the ball ran away from the Irishman on a slick surface.

Aaron Lennon was more clinical with his delivery in Burnley’s next attack. Chris Wood looked the most likely to get on the end of his cross from the right but instead he left it and let it roll through for Hendrick. The midfielder was hesitant with his first shot and subsequently saw it blocked by Denis Odoi. But he was smart with the rebound, first reacting to it before anyone else, and then firing it into the roof of the net for his first of the season.

With parity restored in the 11th minute, the Clarets set about trying to get on the front foot. But their revised gameplan was thrown a curveball when Johann Berg Gudmundsson went down innocuously after a promising Burnley build-up broke down, and subsequently went off, replaced by Charlie Taylor.

A recognised left back, the former Leeds defender was deployed further upfield to fill the gap Gudmundsson had left, but his initial tasks were helping Burnley against the ball.

Schurrle, on the left, worked the ball onto his right foot in the box and brought a good save from Hart, low to his right, with Stephen Ward heading out Seri’s corner.

Timothy Fosu-Mensah then fired low from distance, and saw it roll harmlessly wide.

Burnley were dealing with this spell of Fulham pressure. But then Ben Mee conceded a corner, seemingly unnecessarily, and the home side regained the lead from it.

Seri played the ball out to Tom Cairney, who clipped a cross to the far right post, where Aleksandar Mitrovic beat Ward, and Hart, to a close range header.

Two minutes later and Mitrovic made it 3-1 with his second header after again beating Ward in the air, and this time in a foot race as he sprinted to meet Luciano Vietto’s delightful ball in from the left and guide the ball beyond a rooted Hart.

It was the third time in as many games that Burnley had conceded three, but this time they found a way back by quickly reducing the deficit.

Taylor’s corner was headed on by Mee, atoning for his earlier slip-up as he provided the assist for defensive partner James Tarkowski.

The centre half looked to be offside as he turned the knockdown in from close range, but he did not care and neither did Burnley as a route back into the game opened up at 3-2.

And things looked to be going in their favour as loud penalty appeals for handball against Mee were ignored by referee David Coote, before Mee cleverly worked an opening that he just did not have the attacking instinct to convert before a lively, open first half came to a close.

The second half was not as all-action, and despite the introduction of strikers Sam Vokes and Ashley Barnes from the bench Burnley were unable to ask any questions of former Accrington Stanley loanee goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli.

Instead, Fulham looked increasingly likely to score next as the half went on.

The only surprise was that they only added to the scoreline by one, such was the relentless attacking intent of Schurrle.

After a menacing succession of near misses he got his rewards in the 84th minute, albeit stemming from Mitrovic initially. The striker’s shot from the right of the box was turned onto the left post by Hart, but Schurrle pounced on the rebound and fired it past the Clarets keeper at his near post.