Daniel Munoz’s first-half header was enough to condemn Burnley to a fifth consecutive defeat as Crystal Palace held off a second-half fightback to earn a 1-0 win at Turf Moor.
The wing-back’s header back across goal from Marc Guehi’s deep cross was the one moment of quality in a familiar first half for the hosts, who controlled the game up until the final third – where they were again found wanting.
Scott Parker’s decision to introduce Jacob Bruun Larsen, Hannibal Mejbri and Marcus Edwards proved pivotal in Burnley’s improvement after the break, having racked up an xG of just 0.07 to that point.
They more than doubled that in the space of a few seconds on the hour mark when Bruun Larsen’s left-wing cross found Lyle Foster, who saw his half-volley blocked before Josh Cullen was also denied on the follow-up.
Bruun Larsen would turn from provider for Burnley’s best chance of the game soon after, latching onto another cross at the back post and aiming a thunderbolt effort goalwards, only to be denied by the crossbar.
Player ratings:
Burnley: Dubravka (6), Walker (6), Esteve (6), Ekdal (6), Hartman (4), Thaouna (4), Cullen (6), Florentino (5), Anthony (5), Flemming (5), Foster (6).
Subs: Bruun Larsen (7), Edwards (6), Hannibal (7), Ugochukwu (6), Broja (n/a).
Crystal Palace: Henderson (6), Richards (6), Lacroix (7), Guehi (7), Munoz (7), Lerma (6), Wharton (7), Mitchell (7), Kamada (6), Pino (6), Mateta (5).
Subs: Devenny (5), Nketiah (5), Hughes (6), Canvot (n/a).
Player of the Match: Daniel Munoz.
Subsequent replays showed a fingertip touch from Dean Henderson had turned his effort onto the woodwork, in a stunning show of quick reflexes from the England goalkeeper.
Burnley continued to build but ran out of real threat long before full-time until Henderson misjudged a cross late on and needed Chris Richards’ goal-line clearance to deny Arm ando Broja an inadvertent equaliser.
Without that, it left the Clarets facing their fifth blank of the season – and a fifth defeat in a row.
Parker: We deserved something out of game
Burnley head coach Scott Parker to Sky Sports:
“We should’ve definitely got something out of the game.
“There’s a lot of positives, I weaken my position saying that a little bit because we’ve not got any points but the situation we’re in, in terms of what I asked of the team, being brave and show our quality, we were every bit of that.
“We’ve fallen on the wrong side of a fine margin. Overall, in terms of this young team, what they showed in courage, bravery, was pleasing.
“We dominated large parts of the first half and took the game away from Palace, but the goal comes at a really horrible time for us. It was disappointing to pick ourselves up, but the team I saw in the second half was a front-foot team, limiting Palace to very few chances and took the game to them.”
Glasner: Natural fatigue nearly cost us
Crystal Palace head coach Oliver Glasner to Sky Sports:
“It’s a huge win. It was very tough at the end, and to be honest we had to survive the last 20 or 25 minutes. For the first hour we did really well.
“Then though it’s what we’re facing. We’re getting fatigued, and when the game is not decided, they’re playing at home, they tried everything.
“[Chris] Richards made a big clearance off the goal-line, the crossbar helped us, but the players were fighting for everything.”
Story of the match in stats…
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