Newcastle United 2-0 Crystal Palace: Howe’s side climb into top half of the table with confident win

Bruno Guimaraes played a pivotal role as Newcastle United surged into the top half of the Premier League table with an impressive 2-0 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Eddie Howe’s arrived at St. James’ Park hoping to build on the momentum gained in their confident 3-1 victory over Burnley last time out, and they began the New Year in some style.

The hosts had to be patient, however, with Anthony Gordon and Joelinton both seeing first-half goals ruled out for offside.

Gordon tapped into an open net 19 minutes in off Yoane Wissa’s unselfish centre, though the goal was disallowed following a VAR review, while Joelinton had strayed offside before cushioning Fabian Schar’s deep pass and drilling past Dean Henderson minutes before the break.

The Magpies’ breakthrough finally arrived in the 71st minute, when Guimaraes reacted quickest to nod home from close range off Lewis Miley’s return pass after Palace failed to fully clear their lines.

Newcastle doubled their advantage seven minutes later as Guimaraes’ corner caused some heavy chaos inside the box, opening the door for Malick Thiaw to slide the ball past Henderson amid a scramble.

The Eagles’ best chance of the night came with the final kick of the first half, as Will Hughes played a smart one-two with Yeremy Pino, receiving the return pass inside the penalty area and sending a low effort narrowly wide.

Brennan Johnson, making his Palace debut, also came close, forcing a sharp save from Nick Pope, though Newcastle’s pressure simply proved too much.

KICKING OFF 2026 WITH A WIN! pic.twitter.com/JGXPdE9kzG

— Newcastle United (@NUFC) January 4, 2026

Data Debrief: Newcastle start the year with a bang

Howe could not have asked for a better start to the New Year, with Newcastle now unbeaten in their last seven home Premier League matches (W5 D2), scoring exactly two goals in each game during that run.

The Magpies were full value for Sunday’s win, generating 1.88 expected goals (xG) to Crystal Palace’s modest 0.70 xG.

Palace, meanwhile, are winless in their last seven matches across all competitions (D3 L4) – their longest such run since a stretch of eight games between November and December 2023.

They also failed to register a single shot on target in the first half, marking the third time they have done so away from home since the start of last season (also against Leicester City in January 2025 and Arsenal in October 2025).