Burnley earn a point in relegation fight with draw at Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace 1-1 Burnley: The Clarets remain in 18th but are within touching distance of safety
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Draw specialists Crystal Palace and Burnley could not be separated after Luka Milivojevic’s own goal cancelled out an early opener from Jeffrey Schlupp for the hosts at Selhurst Park.
The 1-1 draw made it 12 apiece for the two sides in the Premier League this season and despite a third game unbeaten, Sean Dyche’s visitors stay in the relegation zone.
Palace, who saw captain Milivojevic slide into his own net after 40 seconds of the second half, remain 11th but with a nine-point advantage over their 18th-placed opponents following a predictable draw.
Boosted by back-to-back wins, it was Burnley who started the strongest in the capital with Aaron Lennon firing wide from a corner early on.
The home team had also been lifted by their midweek exploits after they showed a clinical touch at Watford which had recently been missing and they continued in that vein with the opener from their first attack.
Michael Olise was the creator with Dwight McNeil left chasing his shadow out on the right – not long after Erik Pieters had been fooled – before he crossed in for Schlupp to volley home from close range.
It carried on the impressive productivity of ex-Reading attacker Olise since the turn of the year with this his eighth goal involvement from his last 10 matches.
Palace, and in particular their talented youngster, were in the groove now with Olise sending a free-kick over the crossbar before full-back duo Tyrick Mitchell and Nathaniel Clyne tried their luck to no avail in quick succession.
Another effort from Olise saw a left-foot strike deflected over the crossbar following good build-up play by Wilfried Zaha and the same pair combined again before half-time with Nick Pope denying the former with a smart save.
Patrick Vieira’s side had dominated the first half but it took just 40 seconds of the second period for Burnley to level in south London.
Lennon latched onto Jay Rodriguez’s knock down and cut the ball back towards the six-yard area where Milivojevic inadvertently slid home beyond Jack Butland to make it 1-1.
Butland still had not made a save but that changed in the 56th minute when Wout Weghorst was able to head Josh Brownhill’s corner goalwards but the Palace stopper impressively tipped over.
The Clarets had the ball in the net again soon after when Weghorst fired home after Butland had denied Rodriguez but the latter was ruled to be offside.
Jean-Philippe Mateta had been introduced for the Eagles by this point and the momentum shifted again with Zaha going close on two occasions.
Olise found his team-mate for both attacks with Zaha’s right-foot curler thwarted by Pope first before his left-footed effort not long after hit the post and bounced to safety.
Palace produced a string of dangerous crosses into the Burnley area late on but the away side stood firm and held on for a point which continues their momentum and keeps them within touching distance of safety.
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