Crystal Palace won for just the second time in the Premier League this season, beating relegation rival Ipswich 1-0 to pull clear of the bottom three on Tuesday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored the goal in the 59th minute when he produced a stepover to befuddle Ipswich defender Jacob Greaves and then a deft chip over goalkeeper Arijanet Muric.
Palace’s only other victory in the league in 14 games this campaign was against Tottenham.
While Ipswich stayed in next-to-last place, Palace moved three points above the relegation zone.
Much of the focus ahead of the game was on the teams’ captainsSam Morsy of Ipswich and Marc Guehi of Palace, during another round when the Premier League was celebrating LGBTQ+ inclusion in its campaign to promote equality and diversity.
For the second straight game, Morsy chose against wearing a rainbow armband issued to the captain of each of the 20 teams in the league. He has made the decision “due to his religious beliefs,” Ipswich says.
Guehi did wear the rainbow armband but defied Football Association rules by writing a religious message on the item. The message read “Jesus loves you” — using a heart sign instead of the word “loves.” During the match against Newcastle on Saturday, Guehi wrote “I love Jesus” — and was later contacted by the FA for acting in contravention of its regulations.
Leicester was hosting West Ham in Tuesday’s other game.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Senegal
