After a game every four days since September, the three weeks that have elapsed since Newcastle United last played a competitive fixture has seemed like an eternity.
Plenty of time for the manager to dust down the tactics board and work with the players, a luxury he hasn’t been afforded in over seven months.
That was the theory, and when you start with all but one of your summer acquisitions on the bench, over £200 million of talent kept out of the starting eleven, you need to be confident that those who have been selected will perform.
For the vast majority of this turgid affair, that wasn’t the case.
Crystal Palace looking the more likely in the opening exchanges, forcing Ramsdale to pull off two excellent saves in quick succession, the first from Pino, the second and most impressive denying Munoz.
With the game devoid of quality and so little between the sides, at least United delivered the first blow, Will Osula scrambling the ball into the Palace net, connecting at the second attempt from Miley’s excellent cross shortly before half time.
With Newcastle in the ascendancy either side of the interval, they failed to take advantage and it was a case of normal service being resumed when the Dane, gifted possession following an error by Richards, hesitated, allowing Henderson to save his limp effort.
That missed opportunity felt huge and as the game progressed, although United still didn’t come under any sustained pressure, our slender lead did look fragile.
And so it proved.
Oliver Glasner’s triple substitution just after the hour mark proving decisive, Jean Phillipe Mateta too much of a handful for Newcastle’s brittle defence, the talismanic Frenchman equalising with ten minutes on the clock, before grabbing an injury time winner from the penalty spot, Botman penalised for tugging Lerma’s shirt when there seemed no need.
With the game gone and literally seconds remaining, Wissa and Elanga were bizarrely introduced to the fray. Quite what they were supposed to do with so little time left on the clock, presumably only the manager can explain.
This second successive league defeat leaves Newcastle United’s season hanging.
On 79 minutes, United were 11th in the table and a mere three points off sixth place.
By the final whistle, the club is languishing in 14th, bottom of a pile of teams not facing a relegation dogfight, but with any flickering hope of European qualification surely extinguished.
Crystal Palace 2 Newcastle 1 – Sunday 12 April 2026 2pm
Match Stats
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Osula 43
Palace:
Mateta 80, 90+4 pen
Possession was Newcastle 59% Palace 41%
Total shots were Newcastle 7 Palace 11
Shots on target were Newcastle 3 Palace 5
Corners were Newcastle 4 Palace 2
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 14 Palace 21
Newcastle team v Crystal Palace:
Ramsdale; Livramento, Thiaw, Botman, Hall; Miley, Tonali (Elanga 95), Joelinton (Ramsey 84); Murphy (Wissa 95), Osula (Woltemade 84), Gordon (Barnes 71)
Unused subs:
Pope, Trippier, Burn, Willock