Newcastle 2 Crystal Palace 0 – Sunday 3 January 2026 3pm
Newcastle United fan/writer response from some of our regular contributors to The Mag.
Nat Seaton:
‘What a great way to start the new year.
Some great performances including Miley, Joelinton and our Captain Fantastic (again!).
There were still some players below par, but we had substitutes who were worth using today and who made the difference.
Hopefully this is the start of a run through of January that will have us all laughing at the end of the month.
I can’t wait for Wednesday, bring on Leeds.’
Matt Busby said to Joe Harvey…:
‘Skilled, professional, job done.
A good start to the new year, ultimately comfortable against a very stubborn and physical Palace.
Thiaw won my MOTM award, but Bruno, Miley and Joelinton all came close.
Harvey Barnes looked good after his introduction as the match started.”
Tony Mallabar:
“After 50 minutes I told Chrissy Numbers that the writing is all over it…wrong.
A much-needed and hard-fought victory, with Bruno, once again our talisman with muckle Joe, returning to something like his best.
Once again the east stand has a nice voice and anyone who says the east stand is full of old codgers might have a point once our opener came in, cue massive rush to the toilets. Although I blame the cold.”
GTone:
‘Big win this. Palace are a decent team but we really dug in today and had too much quality for them.
How good is Bruno! He’s Newcastle.
And Miley. For those who haven’t seen his stats: 56 passes and 100% completion. He’s a player. And also an assist on the first goal.
There were some excellent individual performances today, although the team never reached the top, while a terrible miss from Willock prevented a more realistic score.
Thiaw was immense against the very impressive Mateta.
Happy days!!!’
David Punton:
‘A fighting victory – certainly a huge tonic for Eddie Howe amid all the Plan B chatter.
At times it wasn’t pretty, the VAR seemed to have thwarted us, but our talisman got us going before Thiaw could seal it.
Possibly a good time to play against Palace, who are having a bad run.
We were much better in midfield today and went through from 1-0.
Special mention to Lewis Miley, who plays so well out of position.
Willock was loose late in the game, so it should have been 3-0, but it doesn’t matter.
We get the points and then it’s on to the next one in this great national course of a season.’
Billy Miller:
‘I deserved three points, even though we took our time to score the goals.
Two were ruled out before half-time, but we controlled a match that Palace seemed intent on strangling the life out of.
The guys from Brazil were both excellent, Thiaw was a mountain and completely unhindered by Mateta and Pope must have been practicing his kicking as I thought he was flawless today with the ball at his feet.
But the standout player has to be Lewis Miley. He was the embodiment of grace and calm. He could have lost his place if two right-backs had returned to the bench, but he is quickly becoming undroppable.”
Simon Ritter:
‘Good news for the kick-off, without new injuries and a return to the selection for Livramento, Trippier and Botman.
Even better news on a full-time basis, with three points, two goals and a clean sheet.
The four-man defense and Nick Pope were impressively solid.
Our Brazilian midfield duo had the lead, although Tonali was again careless in possession.
Wissa looked sharp, Gordon was busy, but Murphy had a bad day.
Barnes probably did enough to start Wednesday night.
For his all-round play and crucial second goal, I would make Thiaw man of the match, just ahead of Bruno.’
Mark Jankowski:
‘A big 3 points and a far too late clean sheet.
Palace looked like a well-coached side running out of steam and in the end Newcastle were able to showcase their quality.
The only downside to the day is that the Mackems managed to sneak a point out of North London and so remain one place above us until mid-week.’
Newcastle 2 Crystal Palace 0 – Sunday 3 January 2026 3pm
Match statistics
Goals:
Newcastle United:
Bruno 71, Thiaw 78
Palace:
Possess was Newcastle 59% Palace 41%
Total shots were Newcastle 12 Palace 11
Shots on target were Newcastle 7 Palace 1
Corners were Newcastle 8 Palace 6
Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 35 Palace 26
Newcastle team vs Crystal Palace:
Pope, Miley, Thiaw, Schar, Hall (Livramento 63), Tonali (Ramsey 63), Joelinton, Bruno, Jacob Murphy (Willock 88), Gordon (Barnes 63), Wissa (Woltemade 78)
Unused subs:
Ramsdale, Trippier, Botman, Alex Murphy
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