Newcastle United 0 – 0 Crystal Palace

Newcastle was held to a goalless draw by Crystal Palace after having a goal controversially ruled out by the video assistant referee.

The hosts were denied when it was eventually ruled that Joe Willock had fouled Vicente Guaita as Tyrick Mitchell put the ball into his own net.

But replays showed how Mitchell appeared to push Willock into the Palace goalkeeper, much to the disgust of the home crowd when the incident flashed up on a big screen.

Earlier, Newcastle was left further frustrated after record signing Alexander Isak fluffed an attempt to dink the ball over Guaita when clean through, while Miguel Almiron also hit the post with a deflected shot.

Willock should have earned the win late on when he shinned an effort from two yards out following another effort that drew a fine save from Guaita.

Palace – who, like Newcastle, have only won once this season – didn’t severely test home goalkeeper Nick Pope until a late improvement, when Odsonne Edouard’s close-range shot forced him to save.

However, the point will be welcome for Patrick Vieira’s side, who earned their third draw of the season.

Newcastle is now winless in five games for the first time under manager Eddie Howe.

Newcastle and their noisy supporters will have felt aggrieved by the result, especially as some of the crowd were able to witness a replay of the game’s biggest talking point with their own eyes.

From one angle, it appeared as if Willock took Guaita out, but another view showed how Mitchell was the architect of the collision that left the Newcastle player needing treatment.

Nonetheless, referee Michael Salisbury overturned his initial decision, leading to a smattering of boos at full-time.

It was a disappointing return to St James’ Park for Newcastle after pushing Liverpool so close in Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat at Anfield and also sharing a 3-3 draw with Manchester City on their last home outing.

But they paid for wasteful finishing, with record £60m signing Isak failing to back up his thrilling debut in midweek, where he scored against Liverpool.

Having begun brightly at both ends of the pitch, Isak could have made himself an instant hero in front of the Gallowgate End, as he dispossessed Joachim Andersen on the halfway line but chose to chip Guaita and got it all wrong.

He also had a good chance in the second half but his shot was tame, and it summed up a poor game in front of goal for Howe’s side, who are missing Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximin and Bruno Guimaraes through injury.

The best chances fell to Willock and Almiron, but despite spending £117m in the transfer window, it shows where Newcastle are perhaps still lacking depth.

Palace has shown a threat this season by going ahead away from home against both Liverpool and Manchester City – although they ended up with a point at Anfield and a 4-2 defeat at Etihad Stadium.

But at St James’ Park, they could not match Newcastle’s energy, and although they carved out several decent first-half chances, none of them really tested Pope.

Wilfried Zaha, who has scored 13 goals in 20 Premier League appearances this calendar year, was frustrated in his attempts to beat Kieran Trippier or Pope. Eberechi Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta also wasted good opportunities.

The fact the game was goalless going into the second half was down to Newcastle’s wastefulness and some fine Palace defending. Guaita stopped efforts from Sean Longstaff and Sven Botman, while the Dutch defender was also denied by an amazing block by Marc Guehi.

After the hosts started the second half on top once more, Patrick Vieira made a triple substitution to try to revive Palace, and it almost paid off immediately.

Edouard finally made Pope stretch to make a fine save after twisting and turning in the box.

As the game opened up, there were further chances but Palace failed to find the final pass and somehow managed to hang on at the other end.

source – BBC