Although he’s not usually one for proverbs Patrick Vieira summed Crystal Palace’s display against Burnley using the age-old “if you can’t win the game, make sure you don’t lose it.”
In a sense, he is right. Although the Eagles couldn’t recapture the same clinical edge they had against Watford in midweek, they were - for the most part - resolute in keeping Burnley’s chances to a minimum at Selhurst Park.
That resulted in Palace going into their shell somewhat in the second half, failing to live up to the attacking display they showed during in the first 45 minutes where Burnley barely had a foothold in the game.
But despite taking the lead inside ten minutes Vieira’s side couldn’t add to their lead for the rest of the match despite making several inroads.
“It’s not something specific it’s a bit of three or four areas we need to work on and clarify,” said Vieira when asked what he made of his side’s fortunes in front of goal. “I think it’s a little bit of us making the right decision, a little bit of quality in the last pass.
"What is important is not to concede goals first, and then taking your chances and score. Today we had a couple chances at the end and with a better decision and more quality we could win the game.”
It was little surprise that Wilfried Zaha and Michael Olise - Palace’s two brightest attacking talents over the last month - posed Burnley the most problems, and it was their combination work, switching the ball from one wing to another, which gave the hosts their best opportunities in front of goal.
In the first half Olise took centre stage playing on the right wing, wriggling free of Erik Pieters inside the first ten minutes to put the ball on a plate for Jeffrey Schlupp to divert home the opener.
He was soon found open in space on the right again - this time after Zaha had drawn in the Burnley defence with a run across the box - but his sweetly-struck effort at goal was batted away for a corner by Nick Pope.
After the break it was Zaha - restored back to the flank following Jean-Philippe Mateta’s introduction - who benefitted from Olise drawing in space.
He was presented with the best chance of finding the winner in the 70th minute with two shots on goal in quick succession, with the second cannoning off Pope’s post.
Olise was central to both, with him spraying the ball across to Zaha to set him away for his first effort before recycling the rebound back over to the left wing where Mitchell laid into Zaha’s path once again.
“With Wilfried coming inside we also had Michael in the opposite side and that allowed us to create chances one vs one,” added Vieira. “The same worked on the other side - those two players understand the game and have a really good connection together.”
But for all the pair’s good work together, Palace settled for another point - their 12th of the Premier League season so far. That’s already more than the club have ever had in a top-flight season during their current spell and the first time they’ve drawn 12 games in the Premier League since the 2004/05 season.
Not that it should matter too much, Palace’s nine-point gap to the relegation places and superior goal difference should be enough to keep them safe again this season.
But with tough games coming up against in-form Wolves and title-chasing Man City, Vieira might have preferred his side went in for the kill more against Burnley.
