The 3-3 draw with Burnley shows Crystal Palace are the Premier League’s new entertainers
Roll up, roll up, Crystal Palace are in town. Those words were hardly necessary during Roy Hodgson’s era at Selhurst Park, despite admiration for what the ex-England manager did at the club. But there is a change of emphasis under Patrick Vieira and early signs suggest they are going to be the Premier League’s new entertainers.
Saturday’s 3-3 draw at Burnley was a fine example and there have now been 22 goals in the Eagles’ six matches on their travels. They suffered comprehensive defeats at Liverpool and Chelsea, but have scored at least two in their four other away games, highlighted by a big win at Manchester City last month.
High-scoring draws at Arsenal and now here at Turf Moor could easily have been victories, if Palace had not given up leads.
Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Burnley shows that Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace are entertaining
Christian Benteke is in a rich vain of form after grabbing two goals against Burnley
The introductions of England debutant Conor Gallagher, on loan from Chelsea, and wide man Michael Olise have brought fresh impetus, while Christian Benteke is starting to deliver again up front, with four goals in his last five games. This year is his most productive since 2016.
But apart from the clean sheet in the 2-0 win at the Etihad, Palace have shipped at least two goals in their other away games. And the three given away here showed vulnerability at set-pieces which Vieira knows must be eradicated.
It’s still early days but Vieira looks to have completely transformed Crystal Palace
‘When you come to Burnley, you expect to suffer in the air and we have to deal with it,’ he said. ‘We need to improve that aspect of our game because in the modern game set-pieces are massively important. We need to spend more time in training dealing with those set-pieces.
‘Teams we are going to play will look at our strengths and weaknesses to prepare themselves. We have to look at ourselves to improve and be stronger.’
This point was not enough to move Burnley out of the bottom three, but Chris Wood scored his 50th Premier League goal. The big Kiwi is one of only six players to have hit double figures in each of the last four Premier League seasons. He has three for this campaign, and the 29-year-old will need plenty more to drag the Clarets out of danger.
