Jean-Philippe Mateta’s 59th minute goal was enough to see Crystal Palace to a 1-0 victory over the Blues at Portman Road, leaving Town still looking for their first home win of the season. Mateta made the most of a Jacob Greaves slip before finishing confidently, with the defender coming closest to scoring for the Blues when he stuck the woodwork with a header from a set piece in the closing stages.

Town made four changes with Greaves, Harry Clarke, Wes Burns and Jack Clarke coming into the starting XI.

Harry Clarke replaced the injured Axel Tuanzebe at right-back with Greaves coming in for Cameron Burgess, who was absent from the squad, at the centre of the defence alongside Dara O’Shea.

Burns and Jack Clarke started in the wide roles with Omari Hutchinson moving into the centre, while Conor Chaplin and Sammie Szmodics dropped to the bench alongside Kalvin Phillips and Ben Johnson, who were back in the squad after injury.

For Palace, Mali international midfielder Cheick Doucouré came into an otherwise unchanged side for Jefferson Lerma, who was among the subs.

Ex-Blues loanee Trevoh Cholabah started for the Eagles in their their three-man backline alongside skipper Marc Guehi, wearing a rainbow armband bearing the legend ‘Jesus ‘hearts’ you’, which is again likely to see the FA contact him. Blues captain Sam Morsy was again not wearing the LGBTQ+ armband.

Palace had the most of the first couple of minutes before the Blues began to see more of the ball and on seven O’Shea’s header from a right-sided corner deflected behind for another flag-kick.

A minute later, Hutchinson scuffed an effort through to Dean Henderson in the Palace goal, then Liam Delap came close to playing the former Chelsea man in down the middle but an Eagles defender’s toe intervened. Delap was clearly being fouled and referee Craig Pawson might well have pulled play back.

Soon after, Jack Clarke ran into space from his own half with options either side but ran into trouble before making up his mind.

Both sides were having spells in charge without threatening, while the Blues looked most dangerous when breaking through Clarke and Delap.

On 22, O’Shea was shown the game’s first yellow card for a foul on Ismaila Sarr. From the free-kick from the right, Blues keeper Aro Muric half came for it before opting not to and O’Shea flicked it behind. From the corner, Town looked to break but Jack Clarke was fouled by Doucouré, who was booked.

Five minutes later, Maxence Lacroix headed well over from a Palace corner, then a minute later referee Pawson spoke at length to Morsy after Eberechi Eze had lost his footing but won a free-kick.

Palace were getting on top and presenting the greatest danger, and as the game moved to the half hour, a Doucouré shot was diverted over the bar by Greaves, O’Shea and Mateta clashing heads in the build-up and the Town defender requiring treatment and a bandage for a badly cut head.

Town were without the Irish international for the subsequent corner but Chalobah headed into the back of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand.

The Blues were coming under pressure and in the 36th minute a slip at the back allowed Mateta to run towards goal but Greaves blocked.

Moments later, Greaves was in the way of a Palace effort again, turning the ball away from goal at the far post after Daniel Munoz sent an effort across goal from Tyrick Mitchell’s pull -back.

In the 38th minute, Eze had the visitors’ clearest chance of the half after Mateta’s pass from the right played the England international in on goal the wrong side of Burns. The Wales international did well to put the former QPR man under pressure as he ran in on goal and his shot when it came was too close to Muric, who saved.

Town, who had had a period of the player going one way and the pass the other whenever they were looking to break, began to get more of a foothold back in the game as the half moved into its final five minutes.

In the penultimate scheduled minute, Burns tried a speculative effort from distance which won a corner, from which Harry Clarke flicked at the near-post, Delap helped on and Henderson blocked on the line.

Town were the ones pressing at the end of three minutes of additional time with the half having been evenly balanced with both sides having had spells on top and a couple of chances apiece.

Palace had started on the front foot but the Blues had had the first opportunity through O’Shea, then had a spell on top.

The visitors took charge in the middle period when Town game under significant pressure but the Blues were beginning to come more into it close the the break following a scruffy middle period when too many passes were going astray when they were going forward.

Palace made a change ahead of the second half, Doucouré making way for Lerma in midfield.

Town created the first chance of the period, Hutchinson, who had had a quieter than usual first half, bringing the ball forward in space down the middle and feeding Burns on the right, from where the Welshman sent over a cross, which Delap headed straight at Henderson.

On 48, Eze struck the Eagles’ first effort of the half, a low shot from the edge of the box which O’Shea blocked for a corner which came to nothing.

Town began to get more control and pass the ball around with greater confidence, a spell of possession in the 55th minute ending with O’Shea shooting over from distance.

Three minutes later, Will Hughes was booked for going through the back of Jack Clarke with the former Sunderland man breaking into the Palace half after Greaves had made a strong tackle to end a visitors’ attack.

Town had made a decent start to the second half but in the 59th minute, Palace went ahead.

Eze played a ball from the left forward for Mateta, his marker Greaves lost his footing as they battled, giving the Frenchman a free run at goal into the left of the area. Harry Clarke tried to get back but Mateta was able to lift the ball over Muric and into the corner of the net before running away to the left to celebrate in front of the travelling support.

The Blues, who had presented little threat since going behind, made a double change on 66, Conor Chaplin, Jack Taylor and Nathan Broadhead replacing Burns, Cajuste and Jack Clarke with Hutchinson moving to wide right.

Two minutes later, Palace might have gone two in front, Eze playing in Mateta in a similar position to the one from which he had scored. This time Muric was able to save with his foot.

In the 70th minute, Leif Davis, making his 100th league appearance for the club, got down the left and crossed for the first time, but his ball in was just behind Delap and a defender nodded it out at the far post ahead of Hutchinson.

Five minutes later, Delap fouled Munoz on the touchline, a frustrated looking challenge, taking the striker to 32 fouls for the season, more than anyone else in the Premier League.

On 76, Palace brought on Justin Devenny for Eze, then two minutes later Greaves was yellow-carded for a foul on Sarr. In the 79th minute, Delap was replaced by Ali Al-Hamadi.

The Iraq international immediately instilled some impetus in the Town attack, Morsy eventually screwing a shot wide from the edge of the area. Moments later, Chalobah was swapped for Chris Richards.

Hutchinson was also beginning to have an impact down the right, sending over a dangerous cross-shot on 83, then seeing a cutback towards Broadhead stopped by Hughes two minutes later.

In the 86th minute, Al-Hamadi was felled by Lacroix just outside the area to the left and from the free-kick Town went very close to levelling.

Davis took the free-kick short to Chaplin on the edge of the box with everyone anticipating a cross. Chaplin turned and chipped a ball to the far post and Greaves headed across the six-yard area towards Al-Hamadi and Broadhead, the ball hitting the post, then going out of play off the Welshman. It was a well-worked free-kick which deserved more.

Boos rang around the ground as an implausibly scant three additional minutes was announced as Sarr was booked for a foul on the edge of the Town box on Greaves before being replaced by Eddie Nketiah.

Town huffed and puffed in the closing stages and moments before the whistle Palace broke away through Mateta, who moments earlier had been booked, but the goalscorer was unable to find unmarked teammates in the middle.

For the second time in four days, the Blues were defeated by a single goal, the game having swung one way and the other before Palace’s goal.

However, as at Forest on Saturday, Town lacked the guile to cause the opposition too many problems in their penalty area, aside from Greaves’s late header from the set piece.

Other than that, Palace were comfortable, having had chances to add to their lead, and were ultimately worthy of only their second Premier League win of the season.

The Blues, who remain 19th, fall to their third home defeat of the campaign and are still looking for their first win at Portman Road of 2024/25 but have another chance to break that duck when they host AFC Bournemouth on Sunday.

Town: Muric, H Clarke, O'Shea, Greaves, Davis, Morsy (c), Cajuste (Taylor 66), Burns (Chaplin 66), Hutchinson, J Clarke (Broadhead 66), Delap (Al-Hamadi 79). Unused: Walton, Johnson, Townsend, Phillips, Szmodics.

Palace: Henderson, Chalobah (Richards 81), Lacroix, Guehi (c), Munoz, Hughes, Doucouré (Lerma 46), Mitchell, Sarr (Nketiah 90), Eze (Devenny 76), Mateta. Unused: Turner, Richards, Ward, Clyne, Kporha, Schlupp. Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire). VAR official: Chris Kavanagh. Att: 29,533 (Palace: 2,939).

Photo: Matchday Images

mathiemagic added 11:57 - Dec 4 Yet again the effort and willingness is there but glaringly the quality isnt. No January spending spree will cure it sadly.
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Cakeman added 12:19 - Dec 4 What an awful game. No wonder the home crowd were very quiet by recent standards. There was so little to enjoy apart from the chicken and bacon pie which was the highlight of the evening. It’s easy to be wise after the event and we all have views on who should be in the starting eleven. Sadly for the first time I believe Kieran doesn’t know who his strongest eleven is.Yes we have injuries but so does everyone. When we played so well in division One and the Championship the team picked itself. Clearly the jump to the Premier league is a step too far for some. I am yet to be convinced that our new signings were any better than what we had either. That’s Kieran’s choice of course but he looked not only dejected but a bit lost last night. The thing that bothers me more though is why have we changed the style of play that got us to the Premier league? Players are now getting isolated. Liam Delap was on his own with no close by help Far too often. Our passing game from the back which had pace, snap and accuracy has all but gone. We are now a team that are waiting for it to happen instead of making it happen. Sunday’s game is arguably the most important in recent times. We need the team to roll up their sleeves and really go for it from the first whistle. Negativity from the terraces will be evident if we have another abject performance like yesterday. Once Palace scored it was if the plug had been pulled on our players and supporters. No one really believed we could get back in the game. It will be very difficult to stay up and it always was going to be before we started the season. If we go down I’m not sure how we shall respond either. Hopefully we could do a Burnley but not a Luton.

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warktheline added 12:51 - Dec 4 @blueboy, you need to show some respect to a man that propelled our free falling club from the abyss to premiership football! By the way enjoy your brief period gloating because believe me it will be….brief!
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tractorboybig added 12:54 - Dec 4 we were not relegation favourites for no reason, we are filling that position quite easily and there is no escaping the reality of life...sad days.
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Mariner1974 added 13:01 - Dec 4 Come on guys! Tough game last night ! We’re struggling against the ‘not so good’ teams like Forest/ Everton/ Palace who can just come, keep their shape and look to nick a goal on the break. Newcastle didn’t have a shot on goal against Palace on the weekend, and Palace's main aim was to be defensively strong and try to get something when we opened up. These teams use their physicality, break up the game with little fouls, play on the ref and it stops any momentum we build. First half neither team wanted to get caught out. Both defensively strong and it was then on us as the home team to take more chances as we did start of the second half. Just being that bit more open and risking more players forward, gives them more of a chance though on the break. If we’d have scored first last night would have been a different second half. It was the same in division one and championship, with the talent level, physicality, and nous obviously going up a notch or six. When teams come to defend and nick one it’s trickier for us to build up a head of steam. Forest/ Palace/ Everton, they're not looking to have a shootout. They're not bothered about looking good on MOTD/ Amazon. They want points. Whether it be from a soft penalty or one moment. Their main task is to defend and play on the break to a few speedy dudes like Hudson Odoi/ Sarr/ Ndiaye then they just need one moment. if they get that goal, and Mateta's was a good goal, then that's enough. Get ahead. Maintain your shape, and pick up fouls where you can, make the game stop-start, and prevent us from gaining any momentum. We've been in pretty much every game bar West Ham where we made lots of mistakes, but even in that one we were playing some decent football first half, and the crowd was ready to turn on them. Every promoted side will find it hard as you don't have the squad depth of the teams who've been up there for a while. Forest/ Everton/ Palace/ West Ham aren't good football teams. They just have more players in more positions with more depth. With the few injuries we have in key positions, we’re not able to keep the same quality when subs come on. Losing Axel to hamstring injury on Saturday was killer after him just coming back from the Dame Washalot injury, and similar losing Hirst up front, it means we can’t rotate strikers and Delap doesn't get chance to rest up. Last night we had an England defender man marking Omari Hutchison and Eze helping by doubling up and snuffing out his threat. We need a couple of reinforcements in Jan. These other teams have had a number of seasons to reinforce their squads. Doucoure got his tactical yellow in the first half and his next foul that was normally worthy of another yellow, just earnt a reprieve from ref Craig Pawson before half time. They had the luxury to take him off at half time to save that chance of a second yellow and replace him with like for like Jefferson Lerma. Not flashy players, but good solid physically robust players. We’ve played well against Liverpool/ Brighton/ Spurs/ Villa / Utd. It’s the Biffa Bacons who come to duff us up and nick something cheap that we’re having problems with. Let's look forward to Bournemouth and Wolves. Two teams that can score goals, but also more than capable of conceding a chunk as well. Like that Brentford game and last season against likes of Blackburn, Cardiff, Bristol City, Southampton and Hull. We need an end to end game to get us fired up again. Hopefully this sunday we'll get that and he likes of Omari, Delap, Cajuste and Leif will get chance to shine one again.

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dirtydingusmagee added 13:24 - Dec 4 Heading into busy period now,itsnot looking good,not the end of the beggining,more like the beginning of the end,club at bottom come New year are normally for the drop,its a stinker but it was always going to be very hard.Time to hope for a miracle .
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Dissboyitfc added 13:49 - Dec 4 That was a bit of a shocker last night, no excuses but we need reinforcements in January, some of the players who served us so well over the last couple of seasons sadly just aren’t up to the standard required. Tell you what I also find shocking is how quick some folk on here are to slate the team, one clown and his followers referring to us as the premier league whipping boys, actually , Man City are that team, over last 4 games they have zero points conceded 10 and scored 2 stats that make ours look good. Think we will see a much different game against Bournemouth where we will get a positive reaction.

3

Razor added 14:30 - Dec 4 The root cause of the problem lies in the summer----buying too many players and it looked like everyone offered tu us we bought----we should have gone for quality and not quantity and guys wioth premier league experience. We are missing Hirst so much and please give Delap sme help, he can not beat 3 defenders on his own. Greaves good last night and not much else, Muric rubbish and when we needed that bit of luck at the at the end hit the post and did not go in----cruel1!!!!!

2

martin587 added 15:24 - Dec 4 Spot on Dissboyitfc.It’s good to see a sensible post.I agree with you 110%
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gkroon89 added 15:34 - Dec 4 Razor - your post is an interesting read. It may be worth watching Mark Ashtons Talksport interview where he says we have invested in young British talent that we are bound to make money on if we have to start trading players. Makes sense when you think of it. I personally said within the family that I think we could end up buying top Championship players on the expectation of getting relegated and trying to get back up straight away. Looks like we took that route. We have jumped leagues too quickly and the difference in quality is too vast. Teams are generally made over several seasons after all. Muric is an odd one > can pull off some good saves, but and it’s a big but - he is a very nervous keeper with coming out and generally getting caught in no man’s land. I also thought he went to ground very quickly for Mateta to dink over (that might just be me).

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Leejames99 added 16:40 - Dec 4 My Goodness there is some Norwich fans on here, real doom and gloom mongers, saying we all but relegated and wastes money, it's just ridiculous, do any haters even look at the fixtures? Seems the Victor Meldrews on here do not realise that every team in Prem is worthy of their place and no 2 games are the same. Nobody thought we would beat Spurs and draw Man Utd. Leicester have been in prem for years albeit a bounce back season, West Ham, Wolves, Southampton, Burnley, Sheffield Utd etc they have been the main teams for a long time bouncing back and forward. Championship is not easy to get out of ask Leeds and Norwich. 3 teams have to go down! Our only aim is 17th and with that in mind our recruitment was outstanding. Leif Davis, Delap, Hutchinson, Greaves, Jack Clarke will only see their value go up considerably but they are all on big contracts and we do not have to sell. The owners and manager were so clever in bringing in Muric (One of top shot stoppers in league fact) who was Championship keeper of year, Greaves, Szmodicks, Jack Clarke all outstanding last season, add the experience of Phillips, Cajuste our window was amazingly well spent and puts us in a great position to go straight back up again as we have parachute payment. Do not be surprised if we sign permantly sign striker Haji Wright from Coventry and right winger Esse from Millwall both tearing up the championship but not realistically going up with current clubs add experience of Ben Chilwell at Left back we could move Leif left middle, Alfie Doughty from Luton at Right Back maybe or Trippier isn't getting a game at Newcastle would be great experience. We are in a separate league to the too with 5 or 6 other teams and teams will swap places right up until last day of the season. We beat Spurs, Spurs beat Man City etc it's football. The players from league one did great and perhaps expected another season in Championship but unfortunately most are not Premiership quality and I don't think we will see much more of them after transfer window and a fair few departures, KMcK has been more than fair giving them a taste of premiership time. Morsy has done well but age is against him and we need to bed in a new midfielder in that position and a new captain which should most certainly be Leif Davis as obvious next choice. Can the doom mongers and old guard obsessed posts please support the club regardless of players and look at league table and be realistic as too why we bought and will likely buy more of the cream of championship young players sprinkled with Prem experience as it puts us in a great position to bounce back and then consolidate if we get relegated. The old guard will always be legends for the 2 promotions but to sustain our rise back to top tier security then we need to move forward and sometimes one step back makes 2 steps forward. I personally would mind this team and new additions going down this year as they will crave to get back and have a season of getting that winning mentality together to take to Premiership like the old guard did from league 1 to Championship then to Premiership, if we then go Premiership, Championship and back to Premiership in a season then we have all the infrastructure is in place now for the prem and will have a team who have played in Prem but crucially have winning mindset together. Lastly there is a good possibility Man City will be relegated but if not I personally think Southampton, Wolves and Everton go down, long way to go, any game we can get beat or get 3 points so let's just enjoy it this year knowing if it is relegation we have everything in place to bounce back. COYB

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