Crystal Palace picked up a vital win on Tuesday night, beating Ipswich Town at Portman Road to move up to 16th in the league.
Amid a tricky December schedule, the Ipswich Town fixture would have been circled in the calendar as a possible win for Crystal Palace.
But the game proved to be an extremely challenging affair for Oliver Glasner’s side – despite securing all three points in the end.
It took an impressive goal from Jean-Philippe Mateta to win the game in arguably the only moment of attacking quality on display the entire night.
The goal was deserved by the Eagles, but also by the supporters who have endured a frustrating few weeks and a painful few months following Crystal Palace.
Jean-Philippe Mateta leads by example for Crystal Palace
It was a slow watch on Tuesday night as neither side looked like creating much with Ipswich and Sam Morsy in particular making the game very scrappy.
So in the 59th minute when Mateta was through on goal, it was clearly going to be a game-deciding moment.
Mateta was sent through by Eberechi Eze before he used a bit of trickery to get past Jacob Greaves and then chipped Arijanet Muric to put the Eagles 1-0 up.
-It was a solo goal, considering without Mateta taking the ball and running with it before finishing, the game likely finished 0-0 and a third successive draw for the Eagles.
Clear message to Steve Parish sent
Mateta’s scoring was possibly the defining moment of this season so far as failing to win would have been detrimental and possibly telling about the relegation chances going forward this season.
Mateta’s performance was impressive beyond just scoring.
| Stat | # |
| Goals | 1 |
| Chances created | 2 |
| Dribbles | 1 |
| Defensive actions | 6 |
| Recoveries | 2 |
| Duels won | 5 |
This performance comes amid contract talks which have been dragging along with Mateta unable to come to an agreement.
Mateta is asking for £90,000 on his new deal which to date, Steve Parish and Co. look unwilling to pay him.
But now Mateta has scored Crystal Palace’s two winning goals this season which should show the Frenchman’s importance.
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