Muñoz’s late header rescues draw for Crystal Palace against Newcastle

It was the moment Oliver Glasner had been praying for on an afternoon when nothing had seemed to go his way. With Crystal Palace staring down the barrel of another costly defeat courtesy of Marc Guéhi’s own goal against the club that had tried so hard to sign him in the summer, a late equaliser from Daniel Muñoz changed everything. Glasner was off down the touchline, pumping his fists to the home supporters in pure delight and no doubt relief.

With seconds of injury time to play, Newcastle must have thought they had done enough to see off Palace despite not mustering a shot on target. But it was Muñoz, who had somehow contrived to miss a sitter when Palace were in total control during the first half, who came to Glasner’s rescue when he headed home Guéhi’s cross and lifted Palace out of the bottom three.

“I didn’t know I was still so quick,” Glasner said of his José Mourinho-esque celebration. “The players deserve everything – they left their hearts on the pitch. It’s very important when you invest so much that you get some reward.”

Eddie Howe could have no complaints after a subdued performance from his side after losing Alexander Isak to a hip injury in the first half. Newcastle’s inconsistencies were encapsulated in the home defeat against West Ham last Monday and they were again ineffective in attack for much of the game.

“It’s an absolutely devastating blow for us because we thought we were there,” said Howe. “We look a bit low on confidence but losing Alex was a blow for us. We lacked cutting edge up front.”

Despite their own obvious lack of firepower, Guéhi said this week that Palace are capable of beating anyone at Selhurst Park. Yet much like during the negotiations for the England defender, when four bids rising to in excess of £65m were rejected by Palace, both sides seemed reluctant to show their hands during the early exchanges and the result was a scrappy spectacle.

The returning Eberechi Eze should probably have made more of a lofted ball from Ismaïla Sarr after a quick interchange of passes outside the Newcastle area but his control let him down and he was largely ineffective before being withdrawn in the second half.

There was bad news for Howe when Isak was forced off after landing awkwardly on his hip after a challenge with Tyrick Mitchell. The Sweden striker attempted to continue but had to be replaced by Harvey Barnes. His first input was to flash a ball across the face of goal after leaving Mitchell for dead.

Sarr could not beat Nick Pope from close range after an excellent passing move ended with Muñoz picking out the forward. It was the Colombian’s turn to fluff his lines when he managed to miss an open goal from Sarr’s pass after a breathtaking break downfield that was sparked by a cute backheel from Eze. No wonder Glasner looked to the heavens in frustration.

It was Howe’s turn to show his exasperation at the start of the second half as another promising Newcastle attack floundered. But his mood changed when Gordon was brought down by Jefferson Lerma just outside the Palace area and a clever free-kick routine started by Lewis Hall ended with Guéhi inadvertently turning Gordon’s cross past the stranded Dean Henderson, much to the Palace captain’s clear anguish.

The Palace players were incensed when the referee, Darren England, waved away penalty appeals after a shot from Will Hughes appeared to strike Fabian Schär’s upper arm. Sarr was again denied by Pope and it needed a heroic block from Dan Burn to stop Muñoz slamming home the rebound.

There was a desperation about Palace as they poured forward in search of an equaliser. Eze was withdrawn for Justin Devenny and Pope was again on hand to keep out Jean-Philippe Mateta’s effort from a tight angle before the Frenchman blazed over from the resulting corner to leave Glasner on his knees. But there was still time for Muñoz to have the final say and assuage some of the pressure on the Palace manager.