Ipswich 0-1 Crystal Palace: Jean-Philippe Mateta scores a great winning goal

Jean-Philippe Mateta scored a stunning winner as Crystal Palace recorded their first away win of the Premier League season with victory against Ipswich Town at Portman Road.

At kick-off both teams were level at the bottom of the table on nine points and it was the Eagles who provided the crucial moment that secured them a valuable win.

Mateta’s goal came in the 59th minute. The Palace striker had an early hand in the scoring when he fired a shot in his own half before bursting forward, dribbling past defender Jacob Greaves and skipping past Arijanet Muric in the Ipswich goal from a difficult angle.

Up to this point the game lacked class and there weren’t many chances created in the first half.

Most notably, in front of goal, Palace captain Marc Guehi broke the Football Association’s guidelines from earlier in the day and wrote a religious message on his rainbow armband for the second day in a row.

The armbands will be worn by Premier League captains as part of the Stonewall charity’s Rainbow Laces campaign, showing their support for LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport.

Ipswich captain Sam Morsy was the only captain in the league not to wear the rainbow armband at the weekend and he never wore it again, his club citing his religious beliefs as the reason for his choice.

Mateta could have doubled Palace’s lead after the breakthrough when he was played on goal by Eberechi Eze, but he shot straight at Muric.

Before this game, Ipswich had lost just three of their last 45 league games at Portman Road (W28, D14), but the result means they are still the only team without a home win in the Premier League this season (D4, L3).

Liam Delap, one of the bright spots for Ipswich, was once again dangerous but was unable to score against Palace’s back three.

The win moves Palace up to 16th and means Oliver Glasner’s side have lost just once in six games despite a difficult start to the season.