Newcastle heaped more pressure on Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage as they took advantage of the Eagles' dreadful start to the second half to win 2-0 at Selhurst Park. Having been battered 5-0 by Brighton last weekend, Palace badly needed a response for their under-fire head coach but were soundly beaten by the Magpies - whose own manager Matthias Jaissle had also come into the game feeling the heat. The manner of Palace's defeat will be of particular concern given that, after a forgettable first half, they barely re-emerged for the second with Jaissle clearly winning the battle of the half-time teamtalks.
Barely a minute after the restart the hosts were behind when Jacob Murphy's excellent cross was turned home by Will Osula. It would have been two soon after save for a tight VAR offside call against Joe Willock, who had been threaded through by a fine Joelinton pass. But Palace failed to use the let-off to their advantage and were soon punished when Harvey Barnes slammed home a second just before the hour.
That was enough for the murmurs of discontent to begin to ripple through a previously patient home support, who were shown little to give them any hope of a comeback as only Dario Osorio's long-range effort caused Lukas Hornicek any concern. Newcastle's impressive victory lifts them seventh in the Premier League standings following a first win in three and an all-too-rare clean sheet - their first since August. 2: CLOSE! Jean-Philippe Mateta gets onto the end of an Adam Wharton free-kick after pinball in the Newcastle box, but can't make a clean connection. 47: GOAL!
Murphy's dangerous outswinging cross is fired home by Osula at the near post. 52: NO GOAL! Willock has the ball in the net from Joelinton's lovely through ball but is just ahead of the last man. 58: GOAL! Barnes does make it two, hammering home from inside the box. 71: SAVE!
Osorio forces Hornicek into his first save in over an hour with his long-range curler tipped wide. 76: VAR! The video official checks for a potential elbow from Jeremy Pino, but rules it insufficient for a red card.
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