Mags rally late in momentum-building win! – Newcastle 2-0 Crystal Palace

A vital three points for Newcastle United and back-to-back wins in the Premier League, as a late rally in the second half settled a tough battle with Crystal Palace at St James’ Park.

After a scrappy first half featuring a few scares and disallowed goals from Anthony Gordon and Joelinton, a largely frustrating second 45 then burst into life as Gallowgate End strikes from Bruno Guimaraes and Malick Thiaw secured a crucial 2-0 win.

That’s now NINE wins in our last 11 home games in all competitions, our first clean sheet in 13 and a victory that sends us up to 9th in the table; one point behind Chelsea and Sunderland, and just two behind Man Utd in fifth.

Bruno and Thiaw were key at both ends to drag us over the line, Lewis Miley was absolutely outstanding at right-back once again and Joelinton got better as the game went on, with his aggression, drive and defensive work coming to the fore to make it two strong displays in a week for the big Brazilian.

Newcastle XI: Pope – Miley, Schar, Thiaw, Hall – Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton – Murphy, Wissa, Gordon.

Substitutes: Ramsdale, Trippier, Botman, Livramento, Willock, Ramsey, Woltemade, Barnes, A. Murphy.

Crystal Palace XI: Henderson – Clyne, Lerma, Lacroix, Guéhi, Mitchell –  Hughes, Wharton – Johnson, Mateta, Pino. 

Howe has made one change from our midweek win at Burnley, seeing Jacob Murphy replace Harvey Barnes down the right. This meant Yoane Wissa kept his place up top, while the bench was boosted by the return of Tino Livramento, Sven Botman and Kieran Trippier.

The first opening came Wissa’s way within the opening few minutes, as Gordon broke down the left and squared for the DR Congo striker, who struck his edge-of-the-box shot straight at Henderson.

It was Palace who had the better of the opening exchanges, however, as the visitors forced a few early corners, threw balls into the box and looked up for the fight, despite arriving with a long list of injuries and no wins in their last six.

We hadn’t settled on the ball or built any real patterns of play in the opening 15 minutes, but that quickly changed. After Schar’s header was saved from our second corner in quick succession, Bruno’s slipped Wissa clean through and he unselfishly squared for Gordon to slot into an empty net. It looked like 1-0 Newcastle, but VAR showed Wissa to be inches offside, seeing the goal chalked off.

Hall had made an unusually shaky start and Murphy needed to wake up after a pretty awful opening 30 minutes, although Tonali seemed much sharper both on and off the ball after such a sluggish display in midweek.

Aside from a couple of moments – Hall’s powerful shot and a clinical Joelinton finish denied by another offside – it was a pretty drab and scrappy opening 45 minutes, which ended with a huge let off as Hughes broke into the box and fired a big chance wide in first half stoppage time.

No changes in the second half and, sadly, no change to Newcastle’s struggles to break down a stubborn Palace side, as our passing and patterns of play remained painfully poor, with Murphy having a stinker, Tonali becoming sloppy and Schar’s distribution from the back suddenly turning erratic.

Three changes came just after the hour mark and they’d go on to have a big impact, as Gordon (who’d just been booked), Hall and Tonali were replaced by Barnes, Livramento and Ramsey with 63 minutes on the clock.

We looked stretched at times, with the gap between our back four and midfield alarming at times, allowing Palace to break into space whenever the ball was turned over quickly. At the other end, it was a headscratcher how Murphy was still on the pitch, meanwhile Wissa was struggling to get touches of the ball as our lack of No 10 or quality in wide areas left him isolated and feeding off scraps. But two big guns would soon be the difference to settle a cagey affair.

Bruno Guimarães opens the scoring at St James’ Park! 💥 pic.twitter.com/MExrGKW5OL

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 4, 2026

Newcastle had to find something in this final 20 minutes – and they did. It hadn’t been a pretty game and it wasn’t a pretty goal to give us the all important breakthrough, as Barnes’ cross was kept alive brilliantly by Miley, allowing Bruno to arrive right on cue to head home! 1-0 Newcastle, our first goal of 2026 and it had to be him. Guimaraes at the Gallowgate!

15 minutes left, 1-0 up and we HAD to avoid what most inside St James’ Park feared; throwing away yet more points from a winning position after doing exactly that in previous home games against Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea.

But, rather than sit back and hope to hang on, Howe brought on Woltemade, we forced another corner and Newcastle made it two! Bruno’s delivery, a scrap in the box and the ball was turned home by Thiaw. 2-0 Newcastle and some much needed breathing space with just over 10 minutes to play.

That second broke Palace’s spirit, who brought on three youngsters with five minutes remaining as Newcastle pushed for a third, while Howe was forced into another change as Murphy seemed to feel his hamstring in the closing stages, seeing Willock take his place down the right.

We should’ve made it 3-0 at the death, as good work from Barnes set up Willock, only for the ex-Arsenal man to somehow fire wide when it looked harder to miss! Still, an important win, rare clean sheet and something to build on heading into another home clash with Leeds on Wednesday.

Keep the faith. Howay the lads!