Alan Pardew’s side were made to pay for major defensive issues as their run of games without a clean sheet extended to 16, as Crystal Palace suffered their fourth defeat in a row.
Burnley opened up the scoring only two minutes into the game in a situation of which the defenders failed to help the goalkeeper in clearing the ball after a save from close range.
Another shortly followed in the 14th when Steve Mandanda was at error, after initially stopping the shot, the ball bounced into the back of the net.
Palace then looked to gain more control of the game after the two errors with Tom Heaton making a number of comfortable saves in the first half against the shots of Benteke. The most challenging save being a stunning save after a half volley from Zaha, at an angle, inside the area.
The second half offered a lot more hope for the visitors as when Connor Wickham entered the field, replacing Jason Puncheon, the team came to life. It took only one minute and one touch for Wickham to score Palace’s first and put some momentum into their play.
Burnley were pushed back into their own half and were struggling to get a hold of the ball as Palace looked to make key passes towards the final third. A poor cross from Townsend into the box was handled by Lowton, giving the Eagles a penalty. Benteke stepped up and it was put into the back of the net; allowing him to score his 55th goal in 127 games.
It was a free-kick for Palace with only two minutes left on the clock that proved costly for Pardew’s side as when the free-kick found a Burnley player, a counter-attack was always on the cards and it was this which allowed former Brighton player Ashley Barnes in on goal to score the winner and make it four defeats in four for Palace.
Here are the pick of the images from the defeat to Burnley:
