MAT’S FINISH SINKS TOON

Palace striker hits double to deal blow to Howe’s Europe hopefuls

JEAN-PHILIPPE MATETA fired Crystal Palace to a third straight win as the Oliver Glasner revolution continues to pick up pace.

And the striker’s 10th and 11th league goals of the season on a dominant night dealt a big blow to Newcastle’s hopes of a sixth-place finish.

Eddie Howe’s side, overtaken by Manchester United, produced a stinker in south London and the deficit would have been greater were it not for keeper Martin Dubravka.

Despite Michael Olise starting from the bench, Palace made all the running until a late Toon surge.

In midfield, Will Hughes crunched into tackles, while Adam Wharton dictated the tempo alongside him.

And the thrilling Eberechi Eze left the visitors’ defence dazed and confused through his movement and vision. The Eagles had to show patience, with Mateta’s first goal not arriving until the 55th minute – but it was worth the wait.

Eze found him with a diagonal pass on the edge of the area and the striker played a swift one-two with Jordan Ayew.

Upon receiving the ball back, Mateta composed himself before firing past Dubravka.

The majority of their first-half shots had come from a safe enough distance for Dubravka to react, with the pick of the opportunities a Mateta header that he glanced over the bar.

Indeed, Newcastle went close to taking an undeserved lead when Alexander

Isak outran Joachim Andersen to reach a Bruno Guimaraes pass, only for Dean Henderson to emerge off his line to thwart the striker.

But Palace continued to produce more quality play and Eze was bemused not to win a penalty when smothered by four Toon players.

Replays showed that Sean Longstaff won the ball before the Palace star hit the deck after tangling legs with Fabian Schar.

Then the opener they deserved arrived 10 minutes into the second half as the front three combined with great fluency.

Any suggestion that conceding would wake Newcastle from their slumber was misplaced and Palace appeared more likely to find a second than concede.

Dubravka did well to hold a powerful Mateta header, Eze had an effort blocked by Schar and Hughes curled over.

Olise entered the fray with 17 minutes to go and, with his first touch, produced a backheel pass to Daniel Munoz.

Newcastle did have claims for a penalty when Longstaff went down as Hughes pressured him.

But referee Thomas Bramall pointed for a goal kick and the VAR check proved him right.

And Mateta made sure of the win two minutes from time, following another neat passing move involving substitute Jeffrey Schlupp and Hughes down the left.

C PALACE: Henderson 6, Clyne 6, Andersen 7, Richards 6, Munoz 6 (Ward 90), Wharton 7 (Riedewald 83), Hughes 7, Mitchell 6; Ayew 7 (Olise 73), Eze MOTM 8 (Schlupp 83), Mateta 8.

NEWCASTLE: Dubravka 7, Murphy 5 (Hall 65, 5), Krafth 5, Schar 6, Burn 5, Longstaff 6 (White 90), Guimaraes 5, Anderson 5 (Ritchie 90), Gordon 6, Isak 6, Barnes 5 (Wilson 65, 5).