Sheffield United 4-0 Swansea City: Morgan Gibbs-White double pushes Blades into play-off spots
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Morgan Gibbs-White claimed two goals and an assist at Bramall Lane
In-form Sheffield United moved into the Championship play-off places with a dominant victory over Swansea at Bramall Lane.
The hosts were relentless in the first half, going ahead when Morgan Gibbs-White calmly flicked home after Oliver Norwood's delightful clipped pass in behind.
George Baldock doubled the lead with an excellent arrowed volley off the underside of the bar from 12 yards and Gibbs-White then fed Billy Sharp, who lifted the ball over the sprawling Andy Fisher to put the Blades 3-0 up at the break.
Swansea offered nothing in attack and Sharp turned provider for Sheffield United's fourth, rolling the ball back for the outstanding Gibbs-White to side-foot into the far corner.
Paul Heckingbottom's side have now lost only one of their past 14 league games, winning nine of them, and rise to sixth after Middlesbrough were beaten at Bristol City.
The Swans, meanwhile, drop a place to 17th as their season looks set to peter out under Russell Martin.
On-loan Wolves midfielder Gibbs-White was the shining light in a complete performance from the South Yorkshire side, taking Norwood's ball on the chest before scoring the opener against the club he spent time on loan with last season.
Wing-back Baldock scored the goal of the game from Rhys Norrington-Davies' cross and later had another ruled out for offside, but hobbled off on 70 minutes in the only blemish on the Blades' afternoon.
It could have been more than three at half-time, Gibbs-White heading wide and overplaying when through on goal, but his assist for the recalled Sharp reinforced his quality.
England Under-21 international Gibbs-White showed great technique to complete the scoring before leaving to a standing ovation, while his team-mate Norwood shot over with an open goal from 20 yards in the closing stages.
It is now 10 clean sheets from 14 Championship games for Sheffield United, while Russell Martin's Swansea have won just three of their 16 away league matches this season.
Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom:
"I'm really pleased. We played against a team that can be difficult to play against and we could and should have had more.
"The pleasing thing, again, is that the players want to dominate the ball. We won the ball high up and that's how we created the majority of our chances.
"I'm not being disrespectful when I say that I'm not surprised how one-sided the game was."
Swansea head coach Russell Martin:
"I feel sorry for the fans that have travelled up in difficult circumstances. They deserve better than what we're giving them away from home at the moment.
"We have a lot of young men who are in the process of growing and learning but we aren't learning quickly enough, away from home especially.
"The gap between us at our best and our worst is far too big. The gap between us at home and away is far too big, and that's my fault, so we need to have a look at that."