Mateta on his ‘magnifique’ match-winner
When looking back on his second-half winner at Ipswich Town, Jean-Philippe Mateta’s summary was apt: ‘magnifique.’
The Palace No. 14 was at his bustling best when, with the hour mark approaching at Portman Road, he collected a pass from Ebere Eze, tricked and powered his way past Jacob Greaves, and delightfully flighted an effort beyond the clutches of Arijanet Muric to win the game for his side.
Speaking to Amazon Prime at full-time, Mateta smiled: “Magnifique!
“He [Greaves] was in front of me. I had to do something to be free – that's why I tried this. I saw him go down and I saw the keeper. Deano [Kiely, goalkeeping coach] told me the keeper always goes straight at you, and I knew I had to chip.
“You can see today: he [Eze] found me when he turned. When he does this, I can score a lot of goals."
Palace’s win at Portman Road was their first away win of the Premier League season, and was fully deserved for the Eagles’ effort and industry throughout the 90 minutes.
Mateta admitted: “The start of the season was not what we expected, but we keep working. Today, we have the win away, and we are very satisfied – then in four days, we have a game again [at home to Manchester City on Saturday].
"We’ve had a lot of changes in the team, we had a lot of injuries too. But now everyone is back and I will still score – no worries!
"Because of this win, everyone is confident. We can't wait to play at home against Manchester City. We have to stay focused, because they are a great team, with a great striker – we know what they can do.
“We can breathe a little bit, because we were under pressure. The [Ipswich] fans, everyone was on us. Before the game it was must-win. Even when you score, stay focused and the time goes slowly, and as soon as the ref blew the whistle, we were so happy."