Perhaps the alarm bells can ring a little less loudly for Crystal Palace. This was a controlled, commanding win against opponents who barely landed a blow, easing the pressure on Oliver Glasner and suggesting genuine relegation fears may well prove short-lived. Jean-Philippe Mateta’s goal, scored just before the hour, provided exactly what they deserved and cast a pall of early-winter gloom over Portman Road.
Ipswich usually put teams under the pump here but were scrappy and subdued, the worry for Kieran McKenna being that they looked a class below their visitors throughout. The teams had begun level on points but if the Suffolk side cannot find a way to match opponents of Palace’s physicality and nous they will be left for dead. They are yet to win at home and the time will soon come when at least a trickle of victories is required to keep local spirits high.
In freezing temperatures the question at kick-off was whether either side could light a fire under its relegation fight. Ipswich always knew the season would present this challenge, their chief failing so far an inability to turn consistent performance levels into results. It is the timeless concern of handy, but toothless, promoted sides. A string of injuries has hardly helped and their latest, to the influential right-back Axel Tuanzebe, handed a start to the local-born Harry Clarke.
For Palace ambitions had been higher in August and, for Glasner, the hope was that the euphoria of Saturday’s dramatic draw with Newcastle would provide its own boost. They had missed the stardust of Eberechi Eze and it was welcome that, after a month out, he was ready to start a second game in four days.
Both teams’ strengths on the transition were clear, Jack Clarke and Liam Delap marauding for Ipswich and their centre-back Jacob Greaves, returning from an injury of his own, heading a dangerous Eze delivery away from Mateta. Then Harry Clarke sublimely played Wes Burns into space but the winger, perhaps thwarted by a skiddy surface, slipped with teammates awaiting service.
Delap, a 21-year-old throwback, sent Maxence Lacroix collapsing in a heap after arriving late to a bouncing ball. The home crowd bristled at a series of free-kicks awarded to Palace; it was clear they would be required to endure a scrap, their first heart-in-mouth moment coming in the 23rd minute when an Eze free-kick caused confusion until Dara O’Shea intervened.
Palace began to call the tune, Eze finding pockets and looking increasingly comfortable. Greaves blocked a Cheick Doucouré volley and by now Ipswich were struggling to hold possession. The resulting corner saw Doucouré knock a second ball into the box for Trevoh Chalobah to head the game’s first serious chance too high.
Shortly afterwards an error-strewn passage from Ipswich led to Tyrick Mitchell crossing and Greaves diverting Daniel Muñoz’s mishit away. Then Palace should have scored when Eze, freed by Mateta, faced Arijanet Muric down but allowed the keeper to save. At this point there was only one team in the game although Doucouré, already booked, was fortunate to escape further punishment after clipping Jens Cajuste. Finally Ipswich discovered a threat, Clarke’s near-post header forcing a smart stop from Dean Henderson.
They had been well below their pulsating best but began the second half at speed, Delap heading Burns’ cross at Henderson. Glasner had unsurprisingly replaced Doucouré with Jefferson Lerma; whether or not by coincidence Ipswich began to spray the ball around, without causing undue trouble, but there was a sense the visitors always packed a heavier punch and proof soon arrived.
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When an Ipswich attack broke down, Palace broke down the left and Eze fed Mateta on the inside channel. He had plenty to do but, outpacing and outmuscling the previously impressive Greaves with surprising ease, found himself confronted with Muric and finished clinically.
The timing was poor for Ipswich, who do not usually let games pass them by. They had struggled to compete physically, which is not an unfamiliar theme. McKenna made a triple substitution but Mateta quickly had a chance to finish the job, Muric stopping with his legs and keeping his team alive.
Ipswich smelt a reprieve and, for the first time, pushed Palace back concertedly. Omari Hutchinson twice squandered good crossing positions and, in the 87th minute, a Greaves header drifted on to the far post with nobody placed to make sure. But it was not enough and the Eagles will now wonder if their campaign has finally taken off.
