Late Mateta winner piles pressure on Eddie Howe at Newcastle

Crystal Palace came from a goal down to beat Newcastle and add to growing pressure on Eddie Howe. William Osula had given Newcastle the lead in the first half after an excellent passing move but they wilted after the introduction of Jean-Philippe Mateta and Ismaila Sarr from the Palace bench. Mateta scored twice and Newcastle seemed intimidated by his presence.

Howe will not have many better chances than this to quieten discussions about his future. Newcastle seemed in charge after taking the lead against a Palace team clearly prioritising their European campaign. Yet a position of strength was squandered, raising another period of uncomfortable questions about Newcastle’s direction of travel.

Something fundamental has shifted in Howe’s team, from upward-trajectory upstarts to tired under-deliverers. A can-do attitude has become can’t. They had chances to add to William Osula’s opening goal, Osula himself spurning the best early in the second half. His replacement, Nick Woltemade, was placid when attacking a cross when he should have been attacking it with fury.

Mateta was the opposite, a menace with his application and intelligent centre-forward play. Sarr added attacking composure allayed with speed of thought which the game had been lacking and the two combined for the equaliser, Sarr benefitting from Tino Livramento missing a cross before chipping it up for Mateta to head in. A penalty, awarded for the softest of shirt-pulls on Jefferson Lerma by Sven Botman, was thundered in by Mateta.

It was a largely untidy game, with the tone set with the opening kick-off, when Sandro Tonali took a long run-up and duly found touch around the Palace 22. The resulting line-out was the most exciting moment of the opening half hour.

This was Palace’s first Premier League game for almost a month due to the international break and rescheduled fixtures against teams still in domestic cup competitions. They would rather be anywhere than here in this competition, with just three home league wins all season and only one in their last 10.

Their season is now all about the Europa Conference League and the increasing possibility of a third trophy in two years under Oliver Glasner. No, you would not usually count the Community Shield but an exception can be made for Palace.

Mateta, Sarr and Adam Wharton arrived with 25 minutes left, delaying recognition that Palace would need more than their second string to trouble an increasingly composed Newcastle defence. From then, the wobbles crept in and previously steady performances evaporated. There was no surprise that Palace equalised but their winner was harsh on the visitors.

Red flags for Howe or just a bad run? Six games of their season remain to find out either way.