Ayew and Olise take turns for Crystal Palace against Burnley in six-goal thriller

Ghana forward Jordan Ayew and Nigeria prospect Michael Olise were in action as Crystal Palace held Burnley to a 3-3 draw in the Premier League on Saturday.


Ghana attacker Jeffrey Schlupp, Cote d’Ivoire winger Wilfried Zaha and Senegal midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate also played for The Eagles but Eberechie Eze, another Nigeria prospect, watched the entire action from the bench.


In the end, Christian Benteke’s double and Marc Guehi’s effort salvaged a point for Patrick Vieira’s side in the matchday 12 away fixture at Turf Moor. Cote d’Ivoire ace Maxwell Cornet, Chris Wood and Ben Mee found the back of the net for the hosts.


The result has left Palace ninth on the league table, while Burnley sit in the relegation zone in 18th position.


It was the away side who scored first on the day as Belgium striker Benteke slotted home from a Joachim Andersen assist to make it 1-0 in just the eighth minute.


The home outfit responded in the 19th minute when Mee fired home after being set up by Ashley Westwood.


Buoyed by the equaliser, Burnley pushed on to get the lead for the first time in the 27th minute, thanks to a Wood strike after some good work by James Tarkowski.


Fresh from his first senior England call-up, Conor Gallagher proved his quality with a good effort to set up Benteke to make it 2-2, before England U21 captain of Ivorian descent Marc Guehi beat goalkeeper Nick Pope to send Palace 3-2 up in a fascinating first half.


Burnley hit back again shortly after the break through Cornet who finished off Tarkowski’s ball to level the score at 3-3. It was to be the last strike of the six-goal thriller at Turf Moor.


Ayew, Zaha and Kouyate were in Palace’s starting XI on the day but only the first two players lasted the entire duration of the game as the Ghanaian was replaced by Olise in the 58th minute.


Schlupp was a second-half substitute for Palace, taking the place of Gallagher in the 81st minute.


For Burnley, Cornet, who was in action for Cote d’Ivoire as they lost 1-0 to Cameroon in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers earlier this week, played until the 84th minute.