NEWS BREAKING: Burnley's never-ending misery against Crystal Palace takes a depressing turn once more, but there's terrible news for the palace as well.

Opinion: Burnley’s never-ending nightmare takes another demoralising turn at Crystal Palace

How does the saying go, things often tend to get worse before they get better? Well at this rate Burnley must be preparing a hell of a comeback.

In all seriousness, the nightmare just won’t end, will it?

We thought the Arsenal mauling was bad, and boy it was, but in many ways this was worse. Everything just continues to go wrong.

Opinion: Burnley's never-ending nightmare takes another demoralising turn at Crystal Palace

The trip to Selhurst Park was rightly billed as a must-win game, or a crucial fixture at least in Burnley’s fading survival bid. Even Vincent Kompany didn’t try to play down its significance.

Many, if not all of the Clarets that made the trip down to South London will have been doing so in hope rather than expectation. That tends to be the case when your team has only won a measly three games out of 25, or 26 as it now is.

We weren’t expecting much, but once again what was served up fell way, way below expectations.

Well beaten

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 24: Vincent Kompany, Manager of Burnley, looks dejected following the team's defeat during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Burnley FC at Selhurst Park on February 24, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images) — LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 24: Vincent Kompany, Manager of Burnley, looks dejected following the team’s defeat during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Burnley FC at Selhurst Park on February 24, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

You don’t need statistics to tell you how this game played out, your eyes will do that. But the statistics make for grim reading: Crystal Palace’s Expected Goals (xG) was 2.50 compared to Burnley’s pitiful 0.09. They even managed 0.27 against Arsenal last week.

Burnley’s only real spells of pressure came towards the end of proceedings, when the game was already dead and buried. Even then, they failed to muster a shot on target.