Maxwel Cornet’s superb volley was the pick of the goals as Burnley and Crystal Palace took a point each from what visiting manager Patrick Vieira called a “crazy good game” at Turf Moor.
In dreary conditions Cornet lit up the match with a stunning finish four minutes into the second half, levelling the scores after a breathless first period in which Palace came from behind to lead 3-2, but only after letting slip an early 1-0 advantage. Christian Benteke scored twice either side of goals from Ben Mee and Chris Wood, before Marc Guéhi gave the visitors the lead at the break.
“Both teams maybe brought a different philosophy to the game but both tried to win it,” Vieira said. “I think for the neutral it was a good game to watch.
“I was a little bit disappointed with how we managed the game but that’s just showing the team needs to grow. There is a maturity we didn’t have today to really manage the game better.”
Palace took only eight minutes to open the scoring with Conor Gallagher, fresh from his England debut, starting a move that was finished by Benteke. Cornet could only head Gallagher’s cross to Joachim Andersen, who quickly found Benteke by the penalty box. The Belgian, who scored for his country against Estonia last week, took a touch before poking the ball through James Tarkowski’s legs and in off a post.
Seconds later Palace had a chance to double their lead as Benteke played in Gallagher but the midfielder shot tamely at Nick Pope. The miss proved costly as Burnley levelled in the 19th minute with Mee rising to meet Ashley Westwood’s corner with a strong header.
It was the start of a frantic spell. Jóhann Berg Gudmundsson tried to flick home Dwight McNeil’s low pass but Vicente Guaita saved. Burnley thought the ball was trickling out for a corner but Guéhi cleared, setting up a swift counterattack in which Benteke turned Wilfried Zaha’s cross into the side-netting.
Zaha then got into a tussle with Tarkowski which led to both players being booked, ruling Tarkowski out of next Sunday’s match against Tottenham. But the defender’s next involvement was to set up Burnley’s second goal, nodding McNeil’s free-kick back across goal for Wood, whose header had just enough power to bring up beat Guaita and give the New Zealander his 50th Premier League goal.
Palace responded as Gallagher, Andersen and Benteke combined again. Andersen’s long ball forward was collected by Gallagher, who controlled, shook off Charlie Taylor and squared for Benteke to power home.
Palace’s third followed five minutes later. Pope made a superb save to deny Andersen but Guéhi was on hand to convert the rebound.
Burnley were out early for the second half, eager to make amends, and quickly equalised as Cornet scored his fifth goal since joining in the summer. Tarkowski flicked on Gudmundsson’s cross and the Ivorian met the ball flush on the volley at the far post to thump it into the roof of the net.
Burnley fans were then up in arms as Wood got goalside of Andersen before tumbling to the floor but the referee, Simon Hooper, waved play on and the VAR check yielded nothing.
Burnley had done a good job of keeping Zaha quiet but he rattled the crossbar with a powerful volley just after the hour. Both sides had late chances for a winner: McNeil’s cross found Tarkowski but his header was held by Guaita, while Milivojevic’s drive was deflected over. Then, in stoppage time, the substitute Matej Vydra controlled a high ball from Westwood to bring a fantastic save from Guaita – but neither side deserved to lose this one.
“We didn’t start well, but in the second half it was a different story,” Sean Dyche, Burnley’s manager, said. “We were a lot braver in our performance. To go in at 3-2 we could be disappointedbut we came out in the second half, scored a fantastic goal and Vyds has a golden moment at the end, their keeper makes a fantastic save to be fair.”
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