MEE TIME! Ben lifts Burnley
PALACE 0 BURNLEY 1
BEN MEE celebrated his 300th Burnley league appearance with the winning goal to show a week can be a long time in football.
Last Monday, Sean Dyche’s team were thrashed at Manchester City, amid speculation about the manager’s future, while a plane flew over the Etihad Stadium with an offensive banner.
The Clarets still had only seven players on the bench at Selhurst Park, including two keepers. But captain Mee’s second-half header made up for Burnley’s lack of strikers to lift his side above Palace, Sheffield United and Arsenal into eighth place – level on points with Tottenham – after two wins in five days.
Burnley now face the Bramall Lane club on Sunday with a potential Europa League spot at stake.
England keeper Nick Pope kept his 13th clean sheet of the season, while Dwight McNeil increased his transfer value and outshone his fellow No.11, Wilf Zaha, as Palace lost only their sixth home game of the season.
Two mid-table teams in the
Premier League, in an empty stadium in June, did not promise a classic. And it lived down to expectations for most of a dreary contest.
Crystal Palace became the only team since records began to fail to record a touch in the opponent’s box during last week’s thumping at Anfield.
Roy Hodgson showed more attacking intent before kick-off, when he chased a film crew off the Selhurst Park pitch because he thought they were listening in to his pre-match chat with Sean Dyche. The pair might have been discussing the slim chance of seeing a glut of goals.
Palace have now scored only 12 in 16 home games this season while Burnley were without strikers Ashley Barnes, Chris Wood and Jay Rodriguez.
McNeil had the two best chances of a first half which would have reduced a packed Selhurst Park to silence. A corner from Ashley Westwood caused chaos in the Palace box when
Patrick Van Aanholt’s attempted clearance hit a team-mate after 19 minutes before McNeil shot over.
A minute later, the former Manchester United man galloped forward only to see his shot saved by goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.
Palace’s game plan was try to get Zaha one-on-one with Phil Bardsley, the right-back who celebrated his 35th birthday this week.
But such was Burnley’s determination to not give the Ivory Coast winger any space that even Dyche and his assistant Ian Woan were on his case during an ongoing touchline row at the end of the half.
The equally frustrated Jordan Ayew escaped a red card on a VAR review after he appeared to elbow Josh Brownhill in the face at the start of the second half. And the Ghanaian then fluffed Palace’s best chance late on.
The goal came after 61 minutes when Guaita failed to keep out Mee’s long-range header from a Westwood free-kick.
It was the Burnley captain’s first goal since he scored at Huddersfield in the Championship in March 2016.