In-form Jean-Philippe Mateta bags a brace to damage Newcastle’s European hopes

Posted Thursday, April 25, 2024 by PA

Jean-Philippe Mateta scored for a fifth consecutive home match to fire Crystal Palace to an impressive 2-0 win over Newcastle.

It was a deserved victory for Oliver Glasner’s team and continued their resurgence under the Austrian, with this a third Premier League success in a row after notable wins over West Ham and Liverpool.

Mateta broke the deadlock at Selhurst Park with a smart 55th-minute finish before he added a second late on to end Newcastle’s four-match unbeaten run and damage their prospects of securing European football for next season.

Palace had produced a five-star display to beat West Ham on Sunday, but Glasner decided to rest Michael Olise after his recent return from injury.

It failed to disrupt the hosts’ momentum as the imperious Eberechi Eze flashed an early effort wide before his cross was headed over by Mateta.

Adam Wharton and Jordan Ayew were next to try their luck for Palace but failed to significantly test Martin Dubravka before Bruno Guimaraes gave Newcastle an injury scare.

Guimaraes slipped on the wet surface and stayed down, although the Brazil midfielder was eventually able to continue and not add to the Magpies’ lengthy absentee list.

Newcastle had looked sluggish in the opening exchanges, despite this being their first match in 10 days, but sprung into life after 29 minutes.

An excellent pass by Guimaraes sent Alexander Isak through on goal but Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson held his nerve to slide in to thwart the forward.

Mateta smashed an effort against the crossbar soon after, but the offside flag was raised before Eze had a penalty appeal waved away by referee Thomas Bramall as it remained goalless at the break.

Half-time did not provide the circuit breaker Newcastle required as Palace upped the ante and finally broke the deadlock.

Eze was involved with his incisive pass finding Mateta, who produced a slick one-two with Ayew before he slid home.

It was Palace’s first goal against Newcastle in seven meetings and they quickly searched for a second but Mateta was only able to head straight at Dubravka from an Eze corner.

Another chance was created by Eze after 65 minutes but Will Hughes lifted a curled shot on to the roof of the net.

Eddie Howe had already seen enough by this point with Lewis Hall and Callum Wilson introduced, the latter on for his first appearance since February.

It lifted Newcastle with an Isak shot blocked before they were denied a penalty with 14 minutes left.

Sean Longstaff burst into the area and went down after a slight touch by Hughes, but referee Bramall awarded a goal-kick and VAR Chris Kavanagh at Stockley Park agreed.

While the Magpies pushed for a late leveller, the struggled to fashion clear-cut chances and Palace put the game to bed with two minutes left.

Hughes exchanged passes with substitute Jeffrey Schlupp before he teed up Mateta, who scuffed through the legs of Dubravka for his eighth goal in nine games since the arrival of Glasner in February.