Oliver Glasner's Crystal Palace side welcomed Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United team to Selhurst Park as they drew 1-1 in what was a dull affair between the two sides.
The first half lacked real quality from either side as they looked to work each other out in the opening exchanges, until the best chance of the first 45 went Palace's way.
After a good move on the counter where Ebere Eze and Will Hughes exchanged passes, Ismaila Sarr was put through on goal before he squared it to Daniel Munoz who missed the target. The Columbian right back would have been disappointed with his effort as he still awaited his first goal in red and blue.
The second half started in similar fashion before a quick Newcastle free-kick caught Palace out and Antony Gordon's cross was diverted in by Palace captain Marc Guehi.
Palace were facing another defeat in the league and it was to a team who had just one blocked shot all game. Glasner's side did not necessarily deserve to win the game but they certainly did not deserve to lose.
As the game entered its 94th minute, Guehi delivered a hopeful cross into the box where it met the head of Munoz who beat Nick Pope at his near post as Palace snatched a point at the death of the game.
It will be seen as two points dropped from Palace's point of view but here is what we learnt from the 1-1 draw.
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Palace lack a cutting edge in attack
Against the Magpies Glasner's side generated an xG of 1.29 from 16 shots in the game, compared to 0.02 their opponents managed from just the one blocked effort. This points towards a lack of attacking threat going forward. Palace are failing to take their chances and are not being clinical enough.
This is not the first time we have seen this from the Eagles this season. In what has become a common theme of Palace squandering chances which could have altered the result, and changed the fortunes of their season, most notably in the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the start of November, were Palace missed a number of chances to win the game and had to again settle with just a point.
It has to be said they have been without Eze for a month, Eddie Nketiah for a similar amount of time and Adam Wharton has been out after having surgery at the end of October.
Eze and Nketiah are both back and featured against Newcastle and Wharton is close to a return which will only aid Palace's fortunes in front of goal, but if they are to get out of trouble they need to be taking their chances.
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The defence is solid
It was a combination of Palace defending well and Newcastle being poor going forward but the latter was largely down to Palace. The favoured back three Glasner has settled with has given his side a platform to build on.
For a lot of teams who are down in the lower half of the table often leak a lot of goals, this Palace team however rarely do so. The back three of Trevor Chalobah, Maxence Lacroix and Guehi took some time to gel but once they were familiar with one another, things became a lot easier.
The back three in Glasner's system changes how a team plays both on and off the ball. As a result of the three becoming more comfortable Palace were able to press like we saw at the end of last season in the early months of Glasner's reign.
They are the foundations of this team and will need to remain a strong unit with the busy winter schedule coming up, and if they do so then Palace should be able to get out of trouble.
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Palace need to strengthen at left-wing back
Tyrick Mitchell has been a mainstay in this Palace team ever since he broke through at the back end of the 2019/20 season.
Since then however he has rarely faced any competition for his place. For the most part this is down to his performances when Palace traditionally played a back four, defensively Mitchell has been one of the best full-backs in the league.
It is going forward where he struggles and that coincides with the change in formation brought in by Glasner. In the 3-4-3 used by the Austrian there is a reliance on the wing-backs to get forward, offer width and create chances.
Mitchell struggles in all of these areas, often looking for the safe option and going backwards, rarely taking on his man. This results in a lot of Palace attacks coming down the right-hand side.
There is definitely still a place for Mitchell in this Palace team and squad ,but with competition for his place against someone who is more attacking, it might bring out more of his game then we are currently witnessing.
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The players are with the manager
After just one win in the league all season it would not be a surprise to see some players lose a little faith in the managers ideas, what yesterday showed was that it is not the case for the Palace squad.
In the aftermath of the late equaliser you could see Glasner run the whole length of the touchline to join the celebrations with his team who had been plugging away in search of an equaliser which eventually came.
If there were any questions about Glasner losing faith from his team that would have been put right to bed, as they head to Ipswich Town next in the league where a win will do a world of good for his side.
