Newcastle United v Crystal Palace – Match Report – Fleeced Again

Newcastle hosted Crystal Palace in an old-fashioned Saturday 3pm kick-off at St James’ Park.

Eddie Howe reinstated Fabian Schar and Sven Botman to the starting lineup but made no further changes to the team that faced Liverpool in midweek with Bruno and Maxi not risked.

Newcastle dominated the first half with a few huge chances going begging throughout the half.

Home debutant Alexander Isak had a magnificent chance to cap his first St James’ Park appearance with a goal as he forced the Palace backline into a sloppy clearance which he was able to take in his stride and bear down on goal. One-on-one with Guaita, Ikak opted to try and chip the advancing ‘keeper who stuck out an arm to deflect the shot away from goal. Had Isak opted to place it on either side of Guaita, we’d have been 1-0 up.

It wasn’t all Newcastle, however, with Nick Pope forced to make a superb reflex save from a Mateta shot following a Crystal Palace corner.

Later in the game, Newcastle had a slew of chances during a hectic spell where Newcastle racked up corner after corner and really caused Palace problems. A superb header from Sean Longstaff was saved brilliantly by Guaita and another corner saw the ball fall to Almiron on the edge of the box who hit a sweet left-foot (obviously) shot which struck the bottom of the right-hand post.

Somehow the teams ended the half level, but Newcastle looked the most likely to take the lead.

Newcastle took the lead on 50 minutes through an own goal by Tyrick Mitchell which was bafflingly overturned by the referee after VAR made him check the pitch-side screen. Guaita was felled in the melee by Willock who was pushed into the advancing ‘keeper by Mitchell only for the ball to ricochet off his head into the goal. There was nothing Willock could have done and therefore there was no reason for the goal to be overturned. Newcastle have been shafted by poor refereeing again.

The rest of the half was a tale of two ‘keepers as both Pope and Guaita made some superb stops to keep their respective teams in the game, with Guaita being the busier of the two.

Elliot Anderson’s introduction injected a bit of life into the Magpies on 70 minutes and Palace simply didn’t know how to handle him. It wasn’t just his movement and trickery that had Palace on the backfoot either, he put a couple of balls into the box which gave Isak plenty to fight for. If ever he had staked a claim for a starting role, this was it. Although you’d expect that it comes at the wrong time with Guimaraes likely to be back for the next game.

Despite all of Newcastle’s pressure and attempts at goal and the disallowed own goal. the game somehow finished 0-0, and at this point, it’s really hard to not take these poor refereeing decisions personally, especially in light of Eddie Howe’s comments around the other clubs. It seems like it’s not just the other teams that have it in for us, it’s the entire Premier League and PGMOL.

Man of the Match for this one has to be Nick Pope. Some world-class saves and did all he could to keep a clean sheet.