Huddersfield Town 0-0 Burnley

Burnley are now winless in their past four Premier League games

Huddersfield goalkeeper Jonas Lossl says "there was contact" between him and Burnley's Jeff Hendrick in a second-half incident that saw a clear penalty not given in his side's goalless draw with the Clarets at the John Smith's stadium.

It happened when Hendrick - who took advantage of a slip by Tommy Smith - attempted to take the ball beyond the advancing Lossl, before his right leg was clearly clipped by the Danish shot-stopper.

"I touched him," Lossl said afterwards. "I spoke to the referee and I said there was contact. I didn't do it on purpose, but there was contact. I told the referee after but it was his decision."

Burnley boss Sean Dyche said it was "impossible" that a spot-kick was not awarded.

"Jeff has gone down in a natural manner and he does not get it," he said.

"It seems people who go down in a theatrical way do get it [penalty decisions], but Jeff goes down in a natural way as his foot is clearly taken away, but he does not get it.

It was a game in which Dyche's side enjoyed the better openings, particularly in a first-half which saw a Hendrick goal ruled out for offside, before Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Steven Defour flashed wide of Lossl's left and right goalposts respectively.

• Relive Huddersfield's draw with Burnley as it happened

• Reaction to Saturday's Premier League matches

Huddersfield were content to sit deep and absorb pressure, creating little in attack, but they were almost caught out late on when former Terrier Nahki Wells, on as a substitute for the Clarets, saw Lossl's legs block his toe-poked effort from close range.

Instead, it was a repeat of the result in the reverse fixture at Turf Moor in September.

A point for the home side means they stay 11th in the Premier League, keeping the gap to the bottom three at six. Burnley remain in the heady heights of seventh, with a seven-point cushion over Leicester in eighth.

'He made me go down'

Burnley become only the third team to leave Huddersfield with a clean sheet in the Premier League this season

The introduction of VAR (video assistant referee) is coming to English football in 2018, but it wasn't there in time for Burnley in this match.

In the big talking point of an otherwise unremarkable encounter, Hendrick went to ground after being clearly caught by Lossl - it looked like a penalty in real-time and the replays only made Paul Tierney's decision to not point to the spot look worse.

"I felt contact and he [Lossl] made me go down," the Republic of Ireland midfielder, who was not booked for diving, said of the incident.

"The referee said he didn't think it was a dive, but that I lost my footing and he didn't think the goalkeeper touched me."

Town boss David Wagner admitted his side had been "lucky" with the decision.

The Clarets are now winless in their past four league games, but there were plenty of positives to draw from this performance and only Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United (both 10) have kept more Premier League clean sheets than Burnley (nine) this season.

Terriers should accentuate the positives

This was a meeting of the two biggest surprise stories of the Premier League season so far, and as the scoreline testifies, there was little between them.

Burnley had the better chances, yes, but while the Terriers were somewhat made to look like the away side, they were comfortable in absorbing pressure for the most part.

And given the penalty decision went in their favour, supporters of Wagner's side should see this as firstly a let-off and latterly a good point.

They will begin the new year just outside the top half and with a good cushion to the relegation zone, a fact that caps a memorable year, having made a return to the top flight for the first time in 45 years by winning May's play-off final, and briefly (very, very briefly) topping the table.

In avoiding defeat, they have now lost just one of their past six Premier League games - their best run so far this season.

Huddersfield (shown here on the left) were happy to sit deep against Burnley

'Burnley backed up their league position' - what they said

Huddersfield boss David Wagner: "It was a very tough game and we are very pleased with a point as you can see why Burnley are seventh in the Premier League.

"They had the better chances, they had more chances, but it was a point we had to to work hard for and that is what the players have done."

Burnley boss Sean Dyche: "It was a very dominant performance in the first half. Huddersfield are going well but we had a dominant performance."

Man of the match - Christopher Schindler (Huddersfield)

Schindler made more clearances (10) than any other player and did enough to stop Nahki Wells making a meaningful connection in a late chance for Burnley

Terriers and Clarets at stalemate again - the stats

• Only Manchester City (30), Chelsea (20), Manchester United (18) and Liverpool (18) have won more away points in the Premier League this season than Burnley (17).

• Indeed, Burnley have kept as many away clean sheets in the Premier League this season (four in 11 games), as they did in the whole of 2016-17 (four in 19 games).

• Burnley have lost just three of their 21 league meetings with Huddersfield Town since March 1971 (W11 D7 L3).

• Both fixtures between these two teams this season finished 0-0 - the first time they've shared two goalless draws in a single league campaign.

• This was the eighth time this season that Burnley named an unchanged starting XI in the Premier League; more often than any other team.

What's next?

Huddersfield begin 2018 with a trip to Leicester on 1 January (15:00 GMT); on the same day, Burnley entertain Liverpool at Turf Moor (also 15:00 GMT).