The alarm bells around Crystal Palace can quieten down for now. This was billed as a clash between relegation rivals but the visitors produced a controlled, commanding victory over opponents who barely landed a glancing blow. Perhaps the pressure on Oliver Glasner will ease a little now they have lost one in six and appear, on the basis of recent weeks, to have found a formula that collects points away from home.
It helps when your best player is fit and, from the morass of a low-quality game, rising well above the rest. Eberechi Eze returned from a month’s absence on Saturday and was deemed ready for another outing here. He kept Palace ticking, building cutely on the platform their superior physicality earned, and provided the assist for a winning goal that may prove a critical moment in both teams’ seasons.
Palace were still working their way into the second half when Eze, picking up possession in a customary left-sided pocket after another Ipswich attack broke down, found Jean-Philippe Mateta midway inside the hosts’ territory. There was still plenty for the striker to do but a mixture of strength and speed were too much for Jacob Greaves, who stumbled in pursuit, and the eventual lofted finish over Arijanet Muric was unerring. While the full-time celebrations did not match Glasner’s ecstatic response to the dramatic draw against Newcastle, the reasons for delight were clear.
“An amazing goal, a fantastic finish,” beamed Glasner. “I feel very happy and pleased with the result. Today the result was more important than the performance. Most of the time we controlled the game.”
The concern for Ipswich will be that he was not wrong. They struggle against teams that close space, outmuscle and break at speed. While they rallied towards the end and could have equalised when Greaves’ header drifted against the far post, it was a scrappy and subdued display at a venue where they usually ask persistent questions. There is time for them to make the concerted survival fight most of their performances have signalled, but it will start to run out if they cannot squeeze out at least a trickle of wins soon.
“A frustrating night,” admitted Kieran McKenna. “We didn’t manage to create the game we wanted and didn’t have as many opportunities as we wanted. We weren’t able to produce the quality we needed to create a clear chance.”
They had initially threatened on the transition, Jack Clarke and Liam Delap marauding with menace, but once Palace exerted a hold around the 20-minute mark they found themselves operating on scraps. Eze became influential, equally happy to drop into deep pockets and to stretch Ipswich higher up. He was focal to a dominant spell that saw Trevoh Chalobah head over and Greaves make two important blocks, before running onto a Mateta pass and facing Muric down only to allow a smothering save.
Palace would have deserved an interval lead had Eze’s finishing matched his general play, but were relieved when Ipswich sprung into life and came close through Harry Clarke. His near-post header was smartly saved by Dean Henderson and it was the keeper’s only moment of serious exertion all night. Glasner’s main half-time concern was that the already-booked Cheick Doucouré looked a walking red card after being let off further punishment for a clip on Jens Cajuste. He was duly replaced by Jefferson Lerma and Palace sought to turn the screw.
McKenna, though, was right to point out Ipswich had been broadly on top when Mateta applied the decisive flourish. He wanted them to be more aggressive and direct upon re-emerging, generating some atmosphere among a crowd that had matched its team in being unusually flat. Delap headed at Henderson while Omari Hutchinson tried to inject fire into the freezing conditions but there was always the sense Palace would pick a way through.
“We felt we could really push on and then we conceded a really poor goal,” McKenna said. After that Palace should have sealed things, Mateta getting away in a familiar position but seeing Muric save. Apart from Greaves’ near miss, whose rebound evaded Nathan Broadhead near the line, they dealt comfortably with Ipswich’s late squall. Delap is a colossal talent but will have learned plenty from facing Marc Guéhi, who pushed Eze for man of the match honours and showed no sign of being distracted by controversy over his personalising the rainbow armband.
Glasner, who defended his captain, was more interested in looking forwards. “It was just one win and we need more,” he said. If Eze stays in tune, they will surely find some.
