Full Time
Newcastle United won 2-0 at Selhurst Park, with both goals arriving in a burst after half-time. Palace had the better of a goalless first half, then William Osula scored just after the restart from a Jacob Murphy cross and Harvey Barnes added a second before the hour to settle it. Newcastle kept a clean sheet and Palace, fresh from a midweek European trip, had little left to answer with. Results haven't fully landed in the table yet, but the three points lift Newcastle to 11 in Matchweek 8, while Palace stay stuck on 8 and are firmly in the bottom half. Not the kind of afternoon that quietens the grumbling in south London.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Two clubs, a point apart, both nervously glancing down. Palace have just been beaten 5-0 at Brighton and then drawn 2-2 away at Besiktas in the Europa League. Newcastle have lost their last two away league games 4-1 (at Leeds and Coventry) and went down 1-0 at home to Aston Villa. Whoever loses this is going to have a very quiet week of phone calls.
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2Last season Palace won this fixture at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta scoring twice, including a penalty in injury time. That's the bit Newcastle fans will remember. It's also the kind of thing you can mention to a Palace fan to look well-informed, and to a Newcastle fan to look like you're picking a fight.
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3Player to watch: Jean-Philippe Mateta, who scored in midweek against Besiktas and may lead the line again. He's the man who sank Newcastle here last year. On the other side, William Osula is reportedly the only Newcastle player to score at Selhurst Park in the last five years, so if you want an upset pick, he's your guy.
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4The subplot is new bosses under early pressure. Matthias Jaissle replaced Eddie Howe at Newcastle over the summer, after winning titles at Salzburg and Al-Ahli. Newcastle's injury list isn't helping: Tino Livramento is out with a knee injury, and Anthony Elanga and Jacob Ramsey are back from injury but likely only for the bench. Palace are missing Quinten Timber and Jorgen Strand Larsen, with Dean Henderson to be checked before kick-off. Team sheets land around an hour before kick-off, so worth a look.
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5The hook: this is a proper six-pointer wearing a Sunday-lunchtime kit. Kick-off is 2pm UK time, and the table is so tight that a win lifts either side clear of the pack while a defeat drags them into the mess. If you only watch one scrappy, nervy game this weekend, it's the one where nobody can afford to lose.
Team Talking Points
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1Palace go into the international break bottom of the Premier League after a 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool on Sunday. Eddie Nketiah's stoppage-time penalty was a consolation, not a comeback. Being bottom in November isn't fatal, but it is the sort of thing fans prefer you don't mention first.
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2Manager Pierre Sage is under serious pressure, and the reports this week say his time could be up. Former Brentford and Spurs boss Thomas Frank is the bookies' favourite to replace him, with The Telegraph naming him as the frontrunner. Nothing's official yet, so 'I hear Frank's in the frame' sounds well-informed, while 'Sage has gone' might be a bit premature.
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3This slump has been building. A 5-0 hammering by Brighton a few weeks ago is the result Palace fans really don't want to relive, mostly because it was Brighton, their fiercest rivals. If you bring it up, expect a long stare.
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4There were glimmers against Liverpool. Jørgen Strand Larsen had a goal chalked off for offside by VAR and Yeremy Pino hit the crossbar, so it wasn't a total surrender. Palace fans will tell you the margins have gone against them, and on Sunday they had a point.
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5Don't forget this is the club that won the FA Cup in 2025, their first major trophy ever. Going from Wembley glory to the bottom of the table in about 18 months is a very Premier League kind of whiplash. Mention the Cup win and you'll cheer up any Palace fan instantly.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Whoever ends up in the Palace dugout, the first job is just stopping the leaks. They're not as bad as the table says, but they're getting close.
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Avoid saying
"Just bring Roy Hodgson back again" — it's been said as a joke so many times that Palace fans have stopped laughing, and the man has done his bit for the club twice over already.
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1Newcastle's last game was a 1-1 draw at Fulham. Jacob Murphy scored a 25-yard screamer, and it lasted all of three minutes before Rodrigo Muniz equalised. Muniz hadn't scored in 15 months, which made it extra annoying.
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2They also had a Dan Burn goal ruled out after VAR spotted a foul by Yoane Wissa in the build-up. Manager Matthias Jaissle called it 'soft' and said his side did enough to win. Agree that it was soft and you'll make a friend for life.
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3Jaissle also called the draw 'a step in the right direction after the last performance'. That tells you the last performance wasn't great. Newcastle sit roughly mid-table on 12 points from 10 games, about four points clear of the drop zone and four off the top six.
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4That puts them in a very Premier League kind of limbo: not in trouble, not in contention. A couple of wins and the talk is Europe. A couple of defeats and people start looking nervously over their shoulders.
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5The first game back after the break is a big one. Leaders Arsenal visit St James' Park on Saturday 21 November. A win there would change the mood around the club overnight, and fans know it.
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Top thing to say down the pub
If VAR hadn't chalked off Dan Burn's goal at Fulham, we'd be talking about the top six, not 'a step in the right direction'.
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Avoid saying
"Newcastle are the richest club in the world, they should be winning everything." Fans have heard it a thousand times. Spending rules mean the money hasn't turned into the trophy-a-season machine people imagine, so you'll get a long lecture on profit and sustainability.