Newcastle United 2-0 Crystal Palace: Guimaraes inspires win to keep St James’ Park fortress intact

Bruno Guimaraes played a decisive role as Newcastle United beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at St James’ Park today to extend the visitors’ poor run of form.

The result stretched Newcastle’s unbeaten home run across all competitions and underlined their growing authority on Tyneside.

Eddie Howe’s side thought they had taken the lead early when Anthony Gordon finished from close range, only for the move to be ruled out for offside.

A similar fate followed for Joelinton, who was also denied after racing through to beat Dean Henderson, with the flag again intervening.

Despite those setbacks, Newcastle controlled large spells of the first half and forced Henderson into a series of sharp saves.

The Palace goalkeeper kept out Fabian Schar’s header and further efforts from Yoane Wissa and Lewis Hall as pressure mounted.

Palace remained a threat on the counter-attack and went close before the interval when Jean-Philippe Mateta and Will Hughes both dragged efforts narrowly wide.

The contest opened up after the break as Palace showed more ambition and tested Newcastle’s defensive focus.

Brennan Johnson, making his debut for the visitors, almost made an immediate impact when played through by Adam Wharton, but Nick Pope saved comfortably.

Newcastle continued to pose danger from set-pieces, and Bruno Guimaraes came close when his inswinging corner clipped the crossbar.

The breakthrough finally arrived in the final quarter when Guimaraes timed his run perfectly to meet Lewis Miley’s pass and head past Henderson.

The goal lifted the home side and shifted the momentum decisively in their favour.

Newcastle pressed for a second and bagged it seven minutes later from another dangerous Guimaraes delivery.

Henderson parried the Brazilian’s corner into the six-yard box and Malick Thiaw reacted quickest to poke the ball home.

The goal killed off Palace’s resistance and capped a commanding finish from the hosts. Joe Willock missed a late chance to add further gloss, but the points were already secure.

The clean sheet marked Newcastle’s fifth successive shut-out at home to Palace. They left the pitch with confidence restored and momentum firmly on their side.