It’s a question most Crystal Palace supporters and perhaps even Roy Hodgson must be wondering – what would this season have been like if Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise had not spent the vast majority of it on the treatment table?
A third successive victory for Oliver Glasner’s side thanks to Jean-Philippe Mateta’s 10th and 11th goals of the season ended Newcastle’s recent revival and left Eddie Howe’s side knowing they face a battle to secure European football again. It had been almost exactly a year since Palace last won three in a row after Hodgson returned to replace Patrick Vieira in a blaze of glory before stepping down after a poor run of results.
But with Eze in stunning form and surely a contender for England’s Euro 2024 squad and Olise only required to make a cameo as a substitute, their run of five matches without even scoring against these opponents was consigned to the history books in clinical fashion.
Newcastle’s hopes of qualifying for Europe for a second successive season had been significantly boosted by taking 10 points from their past four matches before arriving in south London.
But with Palace having enjoyed their best performance of the campaign in the 5-2 thrashing of West Ham here on Sunday after their surprise win at Anfield the previous week, Howe’s side could have picked a better time to face them. Their chances were certainly improved by Glasner’s decision to start with Olise on the bench as he manages the forward’s return from an injury layoff.
It is perhaps a reflection of Palace’s style of play under previous managers that their run of failing to score against Newcastle stretched back to October 2021. But it was clear from the start that they were keen to pick up where they left off against West Ham when Eze was inches away after some dazzling feet on the edge of the box. Mateta wasn’t far away from heading in his cross minutes later as the hosts began to take control of proceedings with some slick passing moves.
Eze’s cheeky quick free-kick from just inside Newcastle’s half didn’t quite manage to catch out Martin Dubravka in the Newcastle goal. The visitors struggled to find their rhythm in the face of some intense pressing but Alexander Isak finally had his first sight of goal on the half-hour mark when he raced on to a brilliant pass from Bruno Guimarães, only to be denied by the feet of Dean Henderson. Eze thought he should have had a penalty after a weaving run into the area but the referee, Thomas Bramall, ruled that Sean Longstaff had just made contact with the ball first.
Newcastle’s players were out early for the second half but once more it was Palace who took the initiative. Their breakthrough finally came 10 minutes after the break courtesy of a brilliant one-two between Mateta and Jordan Ayew that allowed the Frenchman to ram home his seventh goal since Glasner’s appointment in February. Mateta almost doubled his tally from Eze’s corner straight away before Will Hughes wasn’t far away with his curling effort that had Dubravka scrambling.
Howe threw on Callum Wilson up front in tandem with Isak in a bid to find a way back into the game and it needed a good clearance from Joachim Andersen to clear away a dangerous cross with the England striker lurking.
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Longstaff was convinced that he should be given a penalty after going down under pressure from Hughes but again Bramall dismissed his appeals to the frustration of Howe and the travelling fans.
The introduction of Olise for the last 20 minutes was the last thing Newcastle’s defenders needed as the France Under-21 forward’s skill saw Elliot Anderson shown a yellow card for wiping him out.
A flowing move down the left featuring Tyrick Mitchell and Hughes eventually spelt the end for Newcastle as Mateta slammed in his second.