Almiron wondergoal gets Newcastle to 40 points with Palace win

Miguel Almiron’s wondergoal earned Newcastle a sixth straight home victory in the Premier League, courtesy of a 1-0 win over an out-of-sorts Crystal Palace.

The Magpies winger went on a mazy run down the right before curling in a stunning effort off the post, following an exquisite pass by popular St James’ Park figure Bruno Guimaraes, who is in red-hot form for Eddie Howe’s side.

Palace boss Patrick Vieira cut a frustrated figure for most of the match as his side were deservedly beaten after creating very little in the north east.

Wilfried Zaha missed the best of their chances in the second-half when he fired wide from inside the box but that was all that troubled Newcastle – who picked up six straight home league wins for the first time since 2004 and reached the magic 40-point mark needed to secure survival.

Before the match, Newcastle boss Howe called for a fast start at St James’ Park in order to reach the 40-point milestone and that’s what his side delivered.

Palace, still reeling from their FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea at the weekend, failed to deal with the quick-minded Magpies players as the likes of Emil Krafth and Allan Saint-Maximin enjoyed a lot of freedom down the wings early on.

In midfield, Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes, fresh from his match-winning display against Leicester at the weekend, combined early on to release Almiron in the penalty area, but only a sturdy block from Marc Guehi denied him an early opener.

Then Newcastle striker Chris Wood enjoyed one of the most clear-cut chances of the evening as he latched onto Matt Targett’s long ball to go one-on-one against Vicente Guaita. The New Zealander put an unconvincing shot wide of goal and the offside flag went up – but replays showed that VAR would have given it had it gone in.

But it wasn’t long until Newcastle’s early running got them the breakthrough. Guimaraes latched onto the loose ball from Krafth’s throw-in to put a superb long ball onto Almiron’s foot. The Paraguayan shrugged off his man to venture into the box, and found the top corner – via the post – from an impossible angle.

Vieira showed his anger at his Palace side by taking off Michael Olise for Jordan Ayew five minutes before half-time – with no injury to the England Under-21 international in sight – as his side struggled to fashion any short of opportunities. The only effort on goal in the first-half saw Odsonne Edouard pass the ball into Martin Dubravka’s arms after some slack defending from Joelinton.

Palace did not improve after the break so more changes came from Vieira. Jean-Phillipe Mateta and James McArthur, who both started at Wembley on Sunday – replaced Cheikh Kouyate and the quiet Connor Gallagher, and the visitors started to show more endeavour.

And when Zaha latched onto Edouard’s pass in the box, many thought that Palace found their leveller. But the Ivorian international dragged his effort past Dubravka’s post and the opportunity fell away.

The only other chance for Palace came when Mateta headed over McArthur’s cross but Newcastle were relatively untroubled on the night that saw them secure Premier League football for next season.

What’s next?

Monday 25th April 7:00pm Kick off 8:00pm

Newcastle are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Norwich in the Premier League; kick-off 3pm. Crystal Palace will then take on Leeds live on Monday Night Football; kick-off 8pm.