Ismaila Sarr pays classy tribute to injured team-mate Jean-Philippe Mateta with goal celebration against Ipswich

THE EAGLES seemed more interested in a trip to ‘Marbs’ than a flight up the table as they made heavy work of breaching the Premier League’s third worst defence.

With no competitive fixtures for three weeks, Oliver Glasner is taking his troops to Marbella on Monday for a warm weather training camp.

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Ismaila Sarr emulates Mateta’s celebration after grabbing the winner[/caption]

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Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts wipes out Jean-Philippe Mateta in the FA Cup[/caption]

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Thomas Tuchel watches on from the stands at Selhurst Park[/caption]

Yet it looked like his in-form Palace players were already on the Spanish beaches as they struggled to get into gear against struggling Ipswich and find the Costa del Goal.

Their blushes were only spared when Ismaila Sarr struck in the 82nd minute with his eighth goal in the League this season – paying tribute to injured team-mate Jean-Philippe Mateta in the process.

This was meant to be the day that Eddie Nketiah stepped into the spotlight, with top scorer Mateta sidelined by the nasty facial injury he suffered against Millwall in the FA Cup.

With Mateta linked by the French media with a £40million move to Manchester United in the summer, there was even more incentive for the 25-year-old to make his mark on his first Premier League start since November 2.

Manager Glasner is well aware that Nketiah has struggled since his £25million summer transfer from Arsenal, but he told his young striker not to feel any pressure, and that he had earned his chance.

However, the tone was set from the second minute when Nketiah was released by a delicious pass from Adam Wharton. He delayed pulling the trigger and ended up seeing his shot blocked by goalkeeper Alex Palmer.

The form book pointed to a win for Palace, who had won seven of their last nine games in all competitions and who were aiming to win four consecutive fixtures in all competitions for the first time since 2020.

The omens were not great for third from bottom Ipswich, as The Eagles had not lost any of their last 18 Premier League home games against sides starting the day in the relegation zone for eight years.

This was a match in which Kieran McKenna’s Tractor Boys were desperate to close the gap on 17th-placed Wolves, but in the end, they couldn’t capitalise on a sluggish Palace performance and secure their first Premier League win in 2025.

The Palace winner was rough luck on Palmer, who had dealt with whatever Palace could throw at him, but he was finally beaten when Sarr pounced on a loose ball and dinked it over the goalkeeper’s diving body and into the net.

Palace were always going to miss Mateta, who has scored 12 times for Palace in 27 Premier League appearances this term – leading to Palace boss Oliver Glasner dubbing him the “best finisher” he’s worked with.

Mateta will at least be joining his team-mates on Monday for their visit to Spain, although he will train alone.

Nketiah – on a run of two goals in his last two matches – was one of four changes to the Palace side, as Adam Wharton, Dean Henderson and Tyrick Mitchell returned.

Ipswich came into the game with a stack of injuries and made three changes, with Luke Woolfenden, Kalvin Phillips and Julio Enciso all starting.

It was a lively opening as after Nketiah’s miss, Ipswich broke down the left and when Leif Davis crossed it needed a good save from Dean Henderson to keep out Jaden Philogene’s effort at the far post.

This was the first top-flight meeting between the sides at Selhurst Park since Palace’s 3-0 win in November 1994, and as the game settled, the hosts took control.

Jefferson Lerma fired just wide from 20 yards after 14 minutes, then Eberechi Eze saw a free kick well defended by the wall.

Eze was denied again soon after when Jacob Greaves, who picked up an early booking for pulling back Sarr, made a vital lunge to block his shot from eight yards.

Eze was guilty of trying to dribble the ball out of defence and when he lost out to Julio Enciso, Henderson again produced an important save.

It was that man Eze in the thick of the action soon after the break, when his shot from the edge of the box took a deflection to loop beyond Palmer before bouncing off the post.

Ipswich have scored only 26 goals in the top flight this season but they had their chances.

As the hour mark came, Enciso’s tame shot from distance was followed with a goalmouth scramble that needed Sarr to hook the ball off the line.

It was end to end, and Palmer made an acrobatic save to turn away another deflected Eze shot, before Daniel Munoz produced a poor finish by shooting at the goalkeeper’s legs rather than lifting the ball towards goal.

Ben Johnson headed over the bar for Ipswich when he might have taken more time and trouble, but it was not going to be Ipswich’s day.

Just when you thought the visitors might snatch a point from their trip to South London, Sarr showed his team-mates who it should be done, keeping a calm head to finish beyond the advancing goalkeeper to give the home fans a mixture of joy and relief at finally getting over the line.