Burnley ‘lucky to have’ Maxwel Cornet after more goalscoring heroics

Chris Wood was delighted to reach the milestone of 50 Premier League goals but acknowledged it is new team-mate Maxwel Cornet who is stealing the headlines at Burnley right now.

Wood brought up his half-century in the first half of the Clarets’ thrilling 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday, with his goal giving Burnley the lead after Ben Mee cancelled out Christian Benteke’s opener.

But after Benteke got his second and Marc Guehi put Palace back in front three minutes before half-time, Burnley needed a superb 49th-minute volley from Cornet to take a point from the game.

“I think we’re going to sit down at the end of the season and just watch a highlight reel of his best goals,” Wood said of Cornet, who now has five in a Burnley shirt since joining in the summer.

“He’s got fantastic quality as a player, you see that on the pitch, and we’re lucky to have him. Long may it continue.”

Wood got his third goal of the season in the 27th minute, getting just enough power on his header to beat Vicente Guaita after James Tarkowski nodded Dwight McNeil’s free-kick back across goal.

“Personally it’s nice to have that bit of momentum and that milestone in my locker,” he said. “Unfortunately we wanted the three points and weren’t able to get them. It was a very open game, both teams had chances to win it.”

Burnley boss Sean Dyche was upset that his side did not get a free-kick – and a potential red card for Palace defender Joachim Andersen – when Wood was brought down as he raced through on goal in the second half.

“I haven’t watched it back, but I believe he was climbing all over me and brought me down,” Wood said of the incident. “That’s the way it goes. Surely it was looked at and it wasn’t enough to overturn it. That’s life in football.”

Though Burnley remain in the bottom three they have now lost only one of their last seven – away to Manchester City – with Dyche convinced his side are on the right track.

“I’ve said since the start of the season I was pleased with the performances,” he said. “It’s about getting on the right side of games. In the Premier League, especially if you’re not one of the superpowers, it’s about getting the margins right.

“I’m generally happy enough with the performances. I’m never naive enough to not know the league table needs to change but we’re definitely going in the right direction.”

Palace boss Patrick Vieira was happy to head south with a point, relieved that Guaita was able to keep out Matej Vydra’s stoppage-time shot to preserve the draw.

But Dyche had singled out Palace’s vulnerability from set-pieces and Burnley duly exploited it, leaving Vieira with a clear indication of where things need to improve.

“When you come to Burnley you expect to suffer in the air and you have to deal with it,” Vieira said. “We did at times but we need to impact that aspect of the game. Set-pieces are massively important and we need to spend more time on them in training.

“I think we were really good building up from the back, creating situations where players can run in behind.

“I was pleased with the three goals but we can be a bit more dangerous. At times, we didn’t make the simple decision, we complicated it too much. I believe there is still a lot more to come from the team going forward.”