Burnley vs Crystal Palace. Premier League.
Turf MoorAttendance18,862.
Burnley 1-0 Crystal Palace: Chris Wood strike turns up heat on Frank de Boer
Monday 11 September 2017 11:26, UK
Crystal Palace became the first side in Premier League history to lose their first four games without scoring after a 1-0 defeat at Burnley.
Chris Wood's early goal, which came courtesy of a horrendous error by Lee Chung-yong, turns up the pressure on new Palace boss Frank de Boer, who has overseen the club's worst start to a season since 1925.
There were positives for the visitors, who had 23 shots on goal - including two efforts cleared off the line and a quite remarkable late miss from Scott Dann - but things are set to get tougher, with fixtures against Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea looming.
De Boer called for cool heads in the early stages, but Lee let his manager down inside the first three minutes. Under no pressure the South Korean international played a woefully short back-pass straight into the path of Wood, who anticipated and then punished the mistake with a first-time finish past the on-rushing Wayne Hennessey.
Palace responded well, but a Christian Benteke header from 12 yards sailed the wrong side of the post before Dann had an effort cleared off the line by Matthew Lowton.
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Burnley lost their goalkeeper Tom Heaton midway through the first-half with a suspected dislocated shoulder and his replacement Nick Pope, who was making his Premier League debut, was kept busy in the second period.
The visitors set up camp in the Burnley half but their final finish was lacking as James Tarkowski and Ben Mee were in resilient mood to keep out Benteke.
The Belgian striker squirmed through the back-line on 79 minutes but it was Pope to the rescue with a brave block down to his right.
Palace continued to press and Dann was denied for the second time by a goal-line clearance, this time from Stephen Ward when Pope was beaten.
That looked to be the last chance, but Dann managed to save the worst miss until last, heading wide from no more than three yards out.
Opta stats
- Crystal Palace are the first top-flight team since Preston North End in 1924/25 to lose their opening four matches without scoring a single goal.
- Chris Wood is the first Burnley player to score in both of his first two Premier League appearances for the club.
- The Clarets are guaranteed to end today in the top eight of the top-flight outside the month of August for the first time since April 18th 1975.
- Palace have now lost their last eight Premier League games when they've conceded the first goal, failing to score in all eight of those games.
The pundit
Jamie Redknapp: "Have I learnt anything about De Boer's philosophy? Not really. They were lumping the ball forward. They want to play from the back but only West Ham and Burnley have made more long passes. He's not sure how to set his team up."
Man of the match - James Tarkowski
A man mountain at the heart of the Burnley back four. Ably assisted by Mee, the former Brentford man stepped into the shoes vacated by Michael Keane to keep quiet Benteke. The centre-back made 18 clearances in the match, which is the most by a player in a Premier League game this season.
What's next?
Burnley take on Liverpool at Anfield next weekend while Palace have a trip to Southampton to look forward to next Saturday, which is live on Sky Sports Premier League before a run of fixtures against United (a), City (a) and Chelsea (h).