Crystal Palace 3-0 Burnley: Ten-man Clarets suffer another miserable day at the office

The Clarets were already performing poorly before Josh Brownhill was shown a straight red 10 minutes before the interval.

James Trafford was at fault for the dismissal, putting Brownhill under unnecessary pressure on the edge of his own box giving him no choice but to bring down Jefferson Lerma.

The Clarets did resist and hold on until the 68th minute, but once the visitors made the breakthrough the floodgates opened – and the result was never in doubt.

The result means Vincent Kompany’s men are winless in their last nine games in all competitions and have lost their last two by an aggregate score of 8-0.

On paper, this was viewed as a game the Clarets could get something from after enduring a difficult run of fixtures.

But the visitors never got going and once again lacked any intensity to their play, even when it was 11-vs-11.

The outlook now looks bleak, with Burnley now 10 points adrift of safety following Everton’s win at Brighton.

Kompany opted to make two changes to the side that were beaten heavily by Arsenal at Turf Moor last week.

One of those changes was enforced, with Johann Gudmundsson replacing Aaron Ramsey who is now expected to miss the majority of 2024 after suffering a serious knee injury against the Gunners.

Charlie Taylor also came in for Hannes Delcroix to make his first start since the FA Cup game against Tottenham at the start of January.

The left-back missed almost six weeks of action after picking up a shoulder problem against Spurs.

Mike Tresor was left out again, while Jordan Beyer remained absent. Luca Koleosho, Nathan Redmond and Lyle Foster are all long-term absentees.

Palace were playing their first game under new boss Oliver Glasner, who replaced Roy Hodgson at the start of the week.

After last week’s nightmare, it was imperative Burnley made a strong start, yet they almost fell behind inside the opening 60 seconds in bizarre circumstances.

As he was being pressed near the halfway line, the returning Charlie Taylor was forced to volley the ball back to goalkeeper James Trafford. The full-back overhit the pass though, resulting in the ball bouncing over Trafford and out for a corner, missing the empty goal by only a few yards.

The hosts worked the resulting corner to Jefferson Lerma on the edge of the box but he side-footed his effort over the Burnley bar.

Burnley weathered the Palace storm in the opening exchanges to slowly but surely grow into the game, but were guilty of lacking composure on the ball in key moments.

Palace threatened again when Jordan Ayew broke down the right to whip in a dangerous ball that just eluded Odsonne Edouard at the back post.

The former Celtic man was teed up in a similar position midway through the half, but saw his volley blocked by the body of Lorenz Assignon.

Palace again went close just before the half-hour mark when a deep cross picked out Edouard, whose close-range header was well kept out by a strong hand from Trafford.

As if Burnley weren’t coming under enough pressure, their challenge was made a whole lot more difficult when they were reduced to 10 men in farcical circumstances.

Trafford put Josh Brownhill under unnecessary pressure playing out from the back, giving the midfielder no option but to haul Lerma to the ground after being dispossessed on the edge of the Burnley box.

With Lerma otherwise facing a clear route through to goal, referee Lewis Smith had no option but to show Brownhill a straight red.

It also gave Palace a free-kick in a really dangerous position, but thankfully Edouard guided his shot just over Trafford’s bar.

Kompany responded immediately to the dismissal with a tactical switch, taking off the ineffective Zeki Amdouni and replacing him with Josh Cullen, to add another body to the centre of the pitch.

Somewhat bizarrely, the Clarets actually looked more solid sitting back with 10 men, and were able to see out the remainder of the half with relative ease.

Keeping that up for another 45 minutes, plus stoppage time, was going to be a big ask for Kompany’s men though.

Palace were straight onto the front foot at the start of the half, as you’d expect, testing Trafford with a long shot from Lerma which the Burnley keeper was equal to.

Assignon then pulled off a vital headed clearance at the back post as he came under intense pressure from Tyrick Mitchell.

Burnley fans were calling for the numbers to be evened up when Adam Wharton fouled Cullen just minutes after being booked.

The former Blackburn Rovers man was only given a talking to though and almost broke the deadlock in the next attack, curling just wide with Trafford at full stretch.

Burnley finally threatened when David Fofana headed harmlessly wide from Assignon’s right-wing cross.

It was arguably the first attacking intent the Clarets had shown all game, but certainly since the red, drawing a chant of “we’ve had a shot” from the away end.

They were soon quietened though when Palace finally found the breakthrough midway through the half.

It wasn’t like the goal was exactly coming, Burnley were actually doing a pretty decent job of keeping the home side at bay.

But they shot themselves in the foot once again leaving Chris Richards totally unmarked at the back post to head home into the far corner.

Four minutes later, one became two as Jordan Ayew steered home from Matheus Franca’s cross having also been left unmarked at the back post.

It went from bad to worse for the Clarets as, another four minutes later, Palace were awarded a penalty when Vitinho fouled Franca, having come on as a substitute barely a minute earlier.

Jean-Phillippe Mateta stood up, sent Trafford the wrong way and dispatched the penalty to give Palace a 3-0 lead.

Burnley thought they had bagged a late consolation when David Fofana headed home from close range following Vitinho’s good run, but the ‘goal’ was chalked off for offside following a VAR review - with Assignon adjudged to be standing in front of the keeper and impeding his view.

It seemed like a harsh decision, but in reality it made no difference to the end result. It just summed up a miserable afternoon and a miserable season in general.

TEAMS

Palace: Johnstone, Ward, Andersen, Richards, Munoz, Mitchell, Wharton (Ahamada), Lerma, Ayew (Ozoh), Mateta, Edouard (Franca)

Subs not used: Henderson, Tomkins, Clyne, Rooney, Umeh, Plange

Burnley: Trafford, Assignon, O'Shea, Esteve, Taylor (Vitinho), Brownhill, Berge, Gudmundsson (Cork), Odobert (Benson), Amdouni (Cullen), Fofana (Rodriguez)

Subs not used: Muric, Ekdal, Delcroix, Bruun Larsen

Referee: Lewis Smith