Osula and Barnes strike as Newcastle end losing run with 2-0 win at Crystal Palace
Osula and Barnes break Palace in a 15-minute burst
Newcastle United climbed to seventh in the Premier League table with a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace on Sunday, putting back-to-back league defeats against Coventry City and Aston Villa behind them with a ruthless 15-minute spell after the interval at Selhurst Park.
William Osula put the visitors ahead in the 47th minute, powering a first-time finish home from a pinpoint Jacob Murphy cross barely two minutes after the restart. Joe Willock thought he had doubled the lead six minutes later, racing onto Joelinton's weighted through-ball and sliding a tidy finish past Walter Benitez, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside against the Newcastle midfielder after a VAR review.
The second goal duly arrived through a slick passing move: Nico González held the ball up strongly before finding Amar Dedic, who teed up Harvey Barnes in space for an emphatic finish into the left corner.
"The first half was one of the worst 45 minutes of football in Premier League history."
The first period, as the Guardian's match report framed it, was a slog of misplaced passes, with a pass completion rate of just 72.8% and only two shots on target before the break. By the quarter-hour an eerie silence had fallen over Selhurst Park, and a smattering of boos from the home fans at full time made clear what everybody already knew: quarter of an hour of proper football had been enough to win the game.
Palace start brightly and spurn the lot
Pierre Sage's side had begun well and came close to taking the lead after three minutes. Adam Wharton chipped a dangerous cross from a free-kick, sparking a scramble in front of goal as Jean-Philippe Mateta twice tried to bundle home, only to be denied by Lukas Hornicek's sharp reflexes.
Spurred on by a lively crowd, the hosts racked up eight shots inside the opening 26 minutes – their most in the first half of a Premier League match in the 2026-27 season – though Mateta, Daichi Kamada and Dwight McNeil could not properly test the goalkeeper. Kamada sliced his finish after a promising run by McNeil, Mateta dragged a shot wide, and McNeil rolled a low pass through a vacant six-yard box after good work from Yéremy Pino. Pino then darted an inviting cross into the box just before the break that narrowly evaded the onrushing Axel Disasi before Hornicek was able to smother.
Those misses were swiftly punished. Newcastle were far from brilliant, but their 15-minute burst after half-time was more than enough to win the game comfortably.
Hornicek preserves the clean sheet
Palace began to show signs of life midway through the second half, with Wharton testing Hornicek with a curling effort just past the hour mark. The Newcastle goalkeeper was called upon again moments later, diving at full stretch to keep out Darío Osorio's swerving, long-range strike, securing three points and a clean sheet for the Magpies.
There was very little threat, very little imagination and very little quality from the hosts beyond those two efforts.
Osula's hot streak and Murphy's milestone
Osula's opener continued a remarkable run of form: it took his tally to seven goals in his last 13 Premier League appearances, having managed just two in his first 50 matches in the competition.
Murphy also made his mark, registering his 31st Premier League assist for Newcastle with the opener. That moved him level with Robert Lee in joint-third on the club's all-time list in the competition, behind only Nolberto Solano (54) and Alan Shearer (35).
Barnes was another standout performer. Since the start of last season, he has been involved in 12 Premier League goals (nine goals, three assists), with only Bruno Guimaraes (14) registering more for Newcastle in that period.
The visitors were ruthlessly efficient in front of goal, scoring with both of their shots on target. Remarkably, Newcastle have now converted 100% of their shots on target in three of their last four Premier League matches in which they have scored at least twice, doing so against Palace, Bournemouth and Tottenham. Palace, by contrast, mustered 17 shots worth an expected goals total of 1.69 but put only four of them on target.
Jaissle's rebuilding job gathers pace
Dan Burn, restored to the back four alongside Fabian Schär ahead of Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw, was immense – untroubled by the physicality of Mateta, of whom it may charitably be said that he is not back to his best after injury. The defence generally looked assured, while González was pretty much the only player in that chaotic first half who had any sense that some semblance of shape might be desirable. Dedic, meanwhile, was solid enough on his introduction.
Newcastle have spent £260m on eight signings, of whom only Nico González has made much of an impact so far. The appeals for patience are reasonable enough – Mattias Jaissle has been in charge for only three months and replacing a manager who had been in charge for five years is rarely a straightforward process, even if the squad has not lost its three best players. This is a squad still taking shape, and on this evidence Newcastle should be comfortably mid-table.