Newcastle United produced a ruthless attacking display to demolish Crystal Palace 5-0 at St James’ Park on Wednesday night, April 16th, recording their sixth consecutive win in all competitions and climbing to third place in the Premier League table. The dominant performance came despite manager Eddie Howe’s continued absence as he recovers from pneumonia.
Jacob Murphy opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a thunderous strike from a tight angle that beat goalkeeper Dean Henderson at his near post.
Crystal Palace were handed a lifeline shortly after when VAR awarded a penalty after Newcastle keeper Nick Pope clattered into defender Chris Richards when attempting to punch a free-kick clear. However, Eberechi Eze’s resulting spot-kick lacked conviction and Pope made the save – reportedly his first penalty save in five years. Palace manager Oliver Glasner later defended Eze, saying “I can’t remember the last time Eze missed a penalty.”
The penalty miss proved pivotal. Within two minutes (38th minute), Newcastle doubled their lead when Harvey Barnes’ cross deflected in off Palace defender Marc Guéhi.
The hosts then added two more goals in first-half stoppage time to effectively kill the contest before the break. Barnes finished coolly following a counter-attack after being set up by Sandro Tonali (45’+2′), before Fabian Schär glanced home a header from Murphy’s cross (45’+8′).
Alexander Isak completed the rout in the 58th minute, curling a fine shot into the net from 25 yards after Joelinton had won the ball back high up the pitch.
“We have spoken about building on the recent results and today was a good example of that,” Barnes said post-match, also praising Murphy’s “unbelievable” form. “We are focussing on our job… making sure the manager (Howe) is proud of the results.”
The victory lifts Newcastle to 59 points from 32 games, moving them above Nottingham Forest into third place and strengthening their position in the race for Champions League qualification (now five points clear of sixth-placed Chelsea). Crystal Palace, who failed to score for the first time in 13 league games despite registering a higher expected goals (xG) tally than Newcastle, remain 12th with 43 points. Newcastle assistants Jason Tindall and Graeme Jones are expected to remain in charge for Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa while Howe recovers.
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