Scott Parker’s bizarre excuse that let Leeds United leapfrog his Burnley side into top two

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Leeds United climbed into second place with a win over Plymouth Argyle on Saturday and stayed there on Sunday, as Scott Parker’s Burnley suffered defeat to Millwall in London.

Goals from Dan James, Joel Piroe and Brenden Aaronson saw Leeds cruise to a seventh Championship win from 13 league games. It also saw Illan Meslier keep an impressive eighth clean sheet at this early stage.

But crucially in terms of the table, Leeds stay second after the weekend. Burnley were beaten by Millwall on Sunday, thanks to Jake Cooper’s goal. Had Burnley won, they could have overtaken Leeds again.

Burnley struggled to show any kind of attacking impetus in a good weekend for Leeds which also saw early pace-setters Sunderland only manage a draw against QPR. Scott Parker gave his reasons for the loss.

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Scott Parker blames linesman injury for Burnley defeat to Millwall

In what is always a tough place to go at Championship level and a fixture Leeds will have to tend with on Wednesday, Burnley came up short at Millwall. That is despite starting brightly in the first 30 minutes.

However, at that stage of the game, the linesman appeared to pull a muscle and had to be replaced. The situation took little over five minutes and Scott Parker blamed the issue for Burnley’s defeat to Millwall.

He said, as per the Burnley Express: “Definitely. That long pause in the game. That may have been a factor [linesman picking up an injury]. At that point, with a young team who had maybe not seen that before.

“The back end of the first half we lose our way a little bit, get involved in the emotion of the game. For a young team, that affected us a little bit. We fell a little bit short,” Parker said, when asked about the injury.

Burnley’s defeat means Leeds only side to lose on game so far

Burnley of course, inflicted Leeds’ only defeat of the season at Elland Road. A game that saw Leeds really dominate and control much of the match, but Manor Solomon’s slip allowed Luca Koleosho to score.

But Burnley have now suffered two Championship defeats, along with leaders Sunderland, West Brom, Bristol City and Sheffield United. Leeds have won seven, drawn five games and only lost on one occasion.

That could have been very different, too. Had Leeds taken chances against Portsmouth on the opening day, had Illan Meslier not fumbled at Sunderland. But as things stand, Leeds sit in a promising position.