Crystal Palace stood in the darkness, staring at the horizon. Would there ever be a glimmer of light? Would black ever ease to grey? For a long time, it did not, but when dawn did at last arrive, it blazed suddenly into a glorious morning. It may all have felt slightly unreal, but after the persistent gloom of the past few months, few at Palace will care.
After a run of three wins in the last 20 games, there’s no sense in quibbling too much about Palace’s biggest home league win since April 2022. But, equally, there has to be some context: Palace will face few sides who collapse quite as abjectly as Burnley did and, for a long time, the prospect of Oliver Glasner beginning his reign with a comfortable victory seemed distant.
