FULL TIME: Crystal Palace 0-2 Burnley
And that’s that! Burnley finally win on the road this season! They were worth their victory, which was hard-fought but contained one moment of brilliance: their second goal was a counter-attacking peach. Neither team is mathematically safe from relegation, of course, but both will be confident of Premier League football next season. A great day for the Clarets, who finally get to enjoy a coach ride home.
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90 min +3: Zaha embarks on a technically brilliant skitter down the left. He reaches the byline and pulls the ball into the centre, but Campbell is lumbering in the style of a galoot, charges into the back of Keane, and the pressure is lifted. Zaha is the very picture of frustration. Palace haven’t been very good today, but he has.
90 min +2: Puncheon curls one into the Burnley box from the left. Flanagan is calm as you like, chesting the ball down for Heaton to gather.
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90 min +1: Remy twists and turns on the edge of the Burnley D. He eventually manages to get a shot away, but it’s blocked pretty much at source and loops harmlessly into the arms of Heaton.
90 min: There will be four added minutes.
89 min: ... nothing much occurs. Burnley slap a few high-fives as a goal kick’s awarded. They’re very close to their season’s first away win - and almost certain Premier League safety - now!
88 min: Joel Ward races after a Townsend pass down the right and is shoved into the turf by the no-nonsense Flanagan. A free kick which is effectively a corner. It’s looped to the far post, where Zaha sidefoots purposefully towards the bottom left. Heaton sticks out a foot, a wonderful point-blank save. The ball’s turned round the post for another corner, from which...
87 min: Zaha sashays down the left, easing his way past a couple of challenges and into the Burnley box. His low fizzer inside is easily hacked clear by Keane, though.
GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-2 Burnley (Gray 85)
They want to keep it that way all right! Palace ping it around the middle in sterile fashion. Boyd suddenly intercepts, and from a deep position inside his own half on the right, creams a ball up the wing with the outside of his boot. It’s a gorgeous pass which releases Gray, who enters the area and smashes a low shot into the bottom right! What a fine goal that was! And Burnley are very close now to winning on the road!
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84 min: Incidentally, the last time Burnley failed to win a single league game all season was 114 years ago. They’ll want to keep it that way.
82 min: Zaha glides in from the left and looks for the top right. The ball flicks off the top of Lowton’s head and out for a corner. That might have beaten Heaton, at full stretch, otherwise. From the set piece, Van Aanholt tries something spectacular from distance. Nope.
80 min: Gray comes on for Barnes.
79 min: A loose ball in the Burnley box. Zaha has his back to goal and tries to control and shield. His pal Flanagan comes through the back. You’ve seen them given for that all right, though the referee will cite a small touch on the ball. That’s a generous decision in favour of Burnley.
78 min: Townsend twists down the left. He eventually whips in a fine cross, which Keane does marvellously well to clear. Up the other end, Barnes makes off down the right. He’s got nobody up with him, though. He reaches the byline, waits, and eventually pulls the ball back for Arfield, who falls over on the edge of the D.
76 min: From the set piece, Arfield fires a low cross through the Palace box. Nobody gets on the end of it. Joel Ward flicks it away from danger. Burnley recycle the ball from the left to the right, Boyd purchasing an easy free kick off Townsend. It wasn’t a foul, so justice is done when the set piece is wasted.
74 min: A flick on from Barnes, and Vokes turns Kelly brilliantly in the midfield. He’s clear on goal! But a heavy touch takes him wide right, allowing Kelly to come back and slide in to block as Vokes gets his shot away. It’s just a corner.
72 min: Hennessey’s heavy touch very nearly gifts Barnes a free shot on goal. But he recovers the situation well, and in the nick of time.
71 min: Palace make a double change. Benteke and McArthur make way for Campbell and Remy. Benteke looks disappointed but he did very little tonight. It was a similar story against Spurs the other day. Ah well, you can’t play Liverpool every week.
69 min: Corner for Palace down the right this time, McArthur and Zaha lively. They’re pushing Burnley back. Keane clears. Palace come back at Burnley. Some head tennis. Eventually Flanagan lashes clear. Barnes tries to hold the ball up, but it’s slim pickings for Burnley up front right now.
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68 min: Van Aanholt and Townsend play a long-distance one-two down the left. The full back’s nearly sent clear on goal, but a heavy touch allows Tarkowski to come across and close him down.
66 min: A free kick for Burnley in the centre circle. Heaton comes to take, and launches the ball into the arms of his opposite number Hennessey. All part of English football’s charm.
65 min: The resulting corner ends in a common-or-garden penalty box melee. Goal kick.
64 min: Arfield slides in on Zaha and Palace have a free kick out on the right. It’s looped towards the far post, and Keane does well to keep it out. But it all results in a corner out on the left. The ball ends up dropping at the feet of Delaney, 12 yards out and level with the right-hand post. Delaney shapes like Zidane and crashes a fine rising shot goalwards. Heaton tips over acrobatically.
62 min: Palace are beginning to win the majority of midfield challenges. That wasn’t happening earlier. Could the tide be slowly turning? The home side have improved since the restart.
60 min: Allardyce is up and about and dancing again as Arfield lightly clips McArthur’s shin in a 50-50 challenge. It probably should be a foul, but it’s in the midfield and the decision’s hardly a game-changer. He might still be thinking about the Zaha-Flanagan set-to, in fairness. He’s going through quite a lot of gum, chewing hard then throwing it around in high frustration.
58 min: Corner for Palace down the left. The ball’s worked to Van Aanholt to the left of the D. He drags a shot into the thicket of players in the box, and a yellow shirt batters clear. This is a good old-fashioned scrap.
57 min: Flanagan strongarms Zaha out of the road as the winger looks to break down the right. But he’s penalised this time. The Palace fans cheer as though a goal has been scored. On the touchline, Sam Allardyce’s noggin looks ready to explode. Eff. Cee. A little spin in impotent rage. I think he might be trying to get the referee’s attention, and perhaps critique his decision making.
55 min: Milivojevic missed a sitter in the first half, but this is much better. He meets a loose dropping ball 30 yards from goal and sends a screeching dipper towards the bottom left. Heaton does very well to get behind it and hold on.
54 min: Vokes battles away on the left, robbing a sleeping Kelly of the ball. He very nearly speeds into the box. Burnley are not content with their one-goal lead. Palace are getting agitated already, with Zaha arguing wildly over a throw by the halfway line.
52 min: Barnes bustles down the left wing and very nearly releases Boyd into the area. Not quite. It’s a good old-fashioned tussle, this match.
50 min: Now Flanagan sticks a leg out and nips Townsend, who opts to try to stay on his feet down the right, as opposed to falling over and buying the free kick. As a result, the ref waves play on. Zaha runs the ball out of play for a goal kick, though he wants either a free kick or a corner and is a picture of wide-eyed apoplexy. He rages at the officials a while. The Palace support is also on a rolling boil.
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48 min: Puncheon accidentally stands on Boyd’s foot and earns a good talking-to from the referee. That doesn’t improve Palace moods after the Flanagan challenge. From the resulting free kick, Tarkowski and Keane cause more aerial bother in the Palace box, but the home side eventually clear.
And we’re off again! Burnley get the ball rolling for the second half. They soon concede possession. Zaha looks to nip down the right but Flanagan’s not having it. At first glance, it looks as though he’s gone straight through Zaha from behind, but the challenge was slightly from the side and he got a touch on the ball first. So, no foul. On the touchline, Sam Allardyce is still in half-time rollocking mode as he questions the referee’s judgement using phrases beginning with eff and effing cee.
Half-time reading: In case you missed the 3pm kick-offs, here’s the big Premier League news. Sunderland, managed by positive thinking’s David Moyes, are down.
HALF TIME: Crystal Palace 0-1 Burnley
A corner for Burnley on the left. Keane wins a header, Tarkowski shoots for the top right, Hennessey parries. But it’s all for naught because Keane was a-shovin’. And that’s your lot for the first half. Palace started brightly but Burnley have been the better team overall, and thoroughly deserve their half-time advantage. They’re 45 minutes (plus stoppages) away from their first away win of the season!
45 min +2: Klassik komik kutz as Joel Ward looks to play a simple pass down the wing, accidentally kicks the ball with his left foot, and swishes through fresh air with his right. Swanee whistle please!
45 min +1: Stephen Ward makes way for Jon Flanagan.
45 min: Stephen Ward goes down again. He looks to have tweaked his knee, and might not even be able to make it to half time. Not least because there are going to be four added minutes.
43 min: Benteke is booked for wafting a straight arm into Tarkowski’s face as the pair go up for a high ball. It was clumsy rather than aggressive, but yellow card it is.
42 min: Stephen Ward launches a long throw into the Palace box. Barnes is penalised for pushing, but once again the Palace back line was creaking a little bit. They’re missing Mamadou Sakho.
40 min: Here’s another thing: Burnley have practically silenced the Selhurst faithful. That’s some achievement. This is one of the most atmospheric grounds in the country. Music to Sean Dyche’s ears, albeit music scored by John Cage.
38 min: Stephen Ward looks like he’s all right. He sends another cross into the Palace box from the left, and it’s met by Vokes, who wanted it more. He heads downwards from eight yards, but there’s not enough pace on the effort and Hennessey is able to snaffle. This is a highly entertaining match: Burnley could easily be a couple of goals ahead; Palace will think they should be level. Delicately poised.
36 min: Zaha wins a corner off Boyd down the left. That leads to a corner on the right. That set piece clanks off Boyd in the middle of his own goal, and sits up nicely for Milivojevic on the penalty spot. Milivojevic must score! But he amazingly blooters wide right and into the crowd! What a miss! Some poor young Palace fan might have copped that one in the mush. Hopefully not. But what a miss!
34 min: Zaha and Benteke combine down the inside-left channel. The ball breaks wide left for Van Aanholt, who tries to manufacture space for a shot but is closed down and can’t get one away. Burnley half clear, but soon enough Benteke and Tarkowski are battling on the penalty spot under a high ball. Benteke tries to hook it goalwards with a high boot but only succeeds in kicking it onto his opponent’s arm. It’s an accidental hand ball, Tarkowski had no idea what was happening, and Benteke isn’t getting the penalty he wants.
32 min: Stephen Ward is down getting a bit of treatment on his left peg. Looks as though he’ll be OK to continue. But that’s robbed this freewheeling game of a little momentum.
30 min: Arfield busies himself down the left, chasing a Vokes flick-down, and wins a corner. Arfield takes it himself, and hits a flat one that somehow evades everyone. Tarkowski recycles it out on the right and sends a long looper back in; that ends up back with Arfield on the left. He should shoot from the corner of the six-yard box but opts to fire it into the thicket of players in the middle instead. Bad decision. Palace clear.
29 min: Now it’s Palace who can’t get hold of the ball. Burnley are pinging it around very nicely. A long period of very pretty possession ends when Lowton crosses into the Palace box from deep, Vokes flashing a header over the bar from 12 yards. Burnley aren’t playing like a team who haven’t won away all season.
27 min: Westwood threads a gorgeous ball down the inside-left channel to release Hendrick into a large pocket of space in front of the Palace box. Hendrick shoots, and is closed down quickly. You can’t blame him for shooting, though Boyd was in acres to his right.
25 min: Heaton hoicks long. Barnes very nearly spins Delaney on the edge of the Palace area, and there’s a suggestion he might have been manhandled illegally. But the referee’s not interested. Burnley don’t appear to have settled for simply defending their lead, though. They’re spilling forward at every opportunity.
23 min: A long ball down the middle by Palace. Benteke wins a towering header. McArthur tries a clever flick out to the left, with a view to releasing Townsend into a lot of space. Not quite. There’s a nice, bright, open feel to this game.
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21 min: Townsend hits it long. Benteke’s about to nut it into the top left when Tarkowski eyebrows it out for a corner on the left. Burnley clear the second one easily enough. This game is great fun. Surely there’s no way it’s going to end 0-1. More goals in this for sure.
20 min: Zaha runs half the length of the pitch down the right, taking four yellow shirts with him. He looks surrounded near the corner flag, but somehow nips out of the pocket and is fouled for his trouble. A free kick in a dangerous position.
19 min: A lively old start to this game, and our first lull.
17 min: Another big decision! Burnley win a corner down the left. It’s hit long. Keane wins a header, and it falls at the far post for Barnes, who turns and squirts a shot past Hennessey and over the line so very, very slo-o-o-o-o-o-wly. Burnley rush off and celebrate, but the goal’s eventually chalked off for handball as Barnes turned and met Keane’s dropping header. That flag took a while to go up.
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15 min: Puncheon launches a simple ball down the middle. Zaha is free, and he’s onside, played on by a deep-sitting Stephen Ward. But the flag goes up. Palace will feel aggrieved, doubly so as Heaton came racing out of his area and clattered Zaha to the ground as he tried to round him.
13 min: Townsend whips a lovely cross in from a deep position on the left. Benteke, on the penalty spot, just needs to trap and turn, and he’s got a free shot on goal. But his touch lets him down, the ball clanking back upfield as he attempts to spin.
11 min: Townsend tries to get something going down the left, but allows the ball to run away from him. Sam Allardyce won’t be happy about that opening goal; his team were, pretty much to a man, uncharacteristically sloppy. They were standing around like showroom dummies as Barnes was permitted two strikes on goal.
9 min: Amid Burnley’s celebration, Tarkowski is clocked by a cigarette lighter hoyed by some clown in the crowd. He’s sponged down before the game restarts.
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GOAL! Crystal Palace 0-1 Burnley (Barnes 7)
A simple long ball forward by Burnley is headed backwards by Barnes to Vokes on the penalty spot. Vokes hits a decent volley, but it’s blocked and cleared. No matter! Vokes robs Milivojevic 25 yards from his own goal. The ball’s slipped wide left to Stephen Ward, in space. Ward fires low into the centre. The ball clanks off the shins of Barnes, six yards out, but instead of flying away, sits up begging for a second chance. On the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, Barnes powers the ball under Hennessey! Burnley’s first away win of the season is on! Just 83 minutes to see out.
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5 min: A lovely move by Palace as Townsend backflicks down the left to release Van Aanholt into space. Van Aanholt cuts the ball back to Benteke on the edge of the box; from the left of the D he curls powerfully towards the top right. It’s not quite high enough, and Heaton is able to palm away.
4 min: Burnley are struggling to keep a hold of the ball. It’s all Palace so far. This is what happens when a poor away record is allowed to morph into a complex.
2 min: The corner from the right is sliced hysterically out of play by Boyd. The next one is sent towards Milivojevic, to the left of the D. He tries to Steve Nicol a long-range header into the top left, but it’s not on target. Goal kick, and some impressive early pressure from Palace comes to an end.
And we’re off! Palace get the ball rolling, as some late-evening sun shimmers across the turf at a nevertheless chilly Selhurst. Space for Joel Ward down the right. He loops it long, and Lowton is forced to turn the ball behind for a corner with Townsend lurking. From the set piece, the ball sails towards Benteke at the right-hand post. Stephen Ward deflects his header out for another corner. Two corners already, with 48 seconds gone!
The teams are out! Crystal Palace are in their red-and-blue-striped shirts, forcing Burnley out of their famous claret numbers; the visitors wear yellow today. A rare old atmosphere at Selhurst Park as ever. No pre-match word with Sam Allardyce, by the way, BT Sport making do with a pre-recorded chat. So, y’know. He was particularly happy with the win at Chelsea, that was pretty much the gist of it. Anyway, we’ll be off in a minute! Just some time for a quick advert encouraging people to bet, bet, bet. Penny for Joey Barton’s thoughts.
Sean Dyche speaks! And he’s asked whether he would care if Burnley go the whole season without an away win, providing they stay up. “Nope! There’s no ego involved in our journey this year. It’s just about getting points on the board. It’s a tough challenge and we’re under no illusions that our next four games are big. We’ve had some decent draws and we want to turn one into a win. Today’s changes are about finding out if we can do that. We don’t know if Joey Barton’s absence will hurt us, but we knew something was coming and we made plans.”
Crystal Palace make two changes to the XI sent out against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night. Mamadou Sakho is injured and Jeffrey Schlupp drops to the bench, so Damien Delaney and Patrick van Aanholt take their places.
Burnley meanwhile give their starting line-up a good old shoogle in the wake of their home defeat to Manchester United. Ben Mee has an injured shin, Robbie Brady and Andre Gray drop to the bench, and Joey Barton has been banned by the Ladbrokes-funded FA. James Tarkowski, Ashley Westwood, Scott Arfield and Sam Vokes step up.
The teams
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Kelly, Delaney, Van Aanholt, McArthur, Milivojevic, Puncheon, Zaha, Benteke, Townsend.
Subs: Speroni, Flamini, Remy, Campbell, Lee, Sako, Schlupp.
Burnley: Heaton, Lowton, Keane, Tarkowski, Ward, Boyd, Westwood, Hendrick, Arfield, Vokes, Barnes.
Subs: Flanagan, Gray, Brady, Defour, Gudmundsson, Long, Pope.
Referee: Robert Madley (West Yorkshire).
Good evening!
Having recently slayed Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, and given Tottenham Hotspur a good run for their money, Crystal Palace are one of the most in-form teams in the land. Burnley, not so much. They’ve only won one of their last 12 games, a run which has seen them plummet down the Premier League table, as well as knocked out of the cup at home by non-league Lincoln. The Clarets are in a wee spot of trouble as a result.
Should Palace win their seventh match in ten games today, they’ll be pretty much on the beach. They’re almost certainly safe anyway, but you can never be too careful. However Burnley started the day just five points clear of the drop zone. How they could do with three points this afternoon. Thing is, of course, they’ve not won away all season. Oh!
Under the circumstances, the visitors will probably play the percentages, keep things tight, and hope to scrap it out for a precious point. And indeed their last visit to Selhurst Park, in September 2014, ended goalless. But otherwise, the signs are promising for those desirous of a scorefest. Burnley beat Palace 3-2 earlier this season, Ashley Barnes netting a last-minute winner, while in recent times Palace have registered 3-2 and 4-3 victories of their own. Any of those scorelines would do the neutral tonight.
Kick off: 5.30pm.
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