Crystal Palace 0-2 Newcastle United: A second-half Geordie blitz puts Pierre Sage under huge pressure

In a battle between two sides in desperate need of points and performance, Newcastle United came out on top with a 2-0 away win at Crystal Palace.

The goals came from Will Osula and Harvey Barnes to ease some of the pressure on Matthias Jaissle and further add speculation to the future of his opposition number, Pierre Sage.

The first half started with lots of endeavour, tackles flying in and lots of high-tempo football. 

Within the opening minutes, a Crystal Palace free kick delivered by Adam Wharton led to a goalmouth scramble which saw Lukás Horniček prevent Jean-Philippe Mateta from adding to his recent goal tally.

Unfortunately, that was as good as it got, as the rest of the half saw a lack of quality, particularly from Newcastle, whose best route for chance creation came through Barnes and Lewis Hall.

 In fact, 51% of their attacks came down that left-hand side.

Quietly, both managers would have been happy going in goalless at the break considering their recent leakage of goals.

However, in the second half, whatever Jaissle’s team talk inspired his side as they came out of the blocks firing on all cylinders.

It was the opposite of the first half as an attack down the right-hand side saw Jacob Murphy deliver a tantalising cross that was met by Osula to open the scoring at Selhurst Park in the 47th minute.

A quick-fire second from Joe Willock was ruled out by VAR after a wonderful touch and finish. 

Typically a disallowed goal can swing the momentum towards the other team, but it almost galvanised the Geordies to put their foot on the accelerator as minutes later, from another cross down the right from Amar Dedić, resulted in a first-time finish from Barnes to double their lead.

The Eagles didn’t give up as Sage rang the changes, introducing Eddie Nketiah and Dario Osorio. 

The substitutions nearly paid off as Osorio created Palace’s best chance of the second half with a shot from distance only to be denied by a full-stretched Horniček hand.

Ultimately, the Eagles couldn’t break through as perhaps the trip to Turkey midweek started to take its toll on the players.

Newcastle’s game management in the second half was excellent as they kept Palace at bay whilst looking a threat on the counter-attack.

Nico Gonzalez contributed significantly with a MOTM performance. Another positive saw Anthony Elanga return from injury as he was given some meaningful minutes.

For Newcastle, victory sees them climb up to seventh and collect only their second Premier League clean sheet. 

They return to action midweek in the EFL Cup to take on Everton before then hosting the same opponents next Monday night.

Crystal Palace have now conceded 50 Premier League goals in 2026.

Loud boos greeted their players and manager at the full-time whistle.

Up next, Palace have two London derbies, the first being at Fulham midweek in the EFL Cup before they travel to a resurgent Spurs side who have just come off a sensational win at Stamford Bridge.