Newcastle United 0-0 Crystal Palace: Hosts denied as goal ruled out by VAR

Joe Willock was adjudged to have fouled the Palace goalkeeper before Tyrick Mitchell put the ball in his own net

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said he was "very surprised" by the video assistant referee's decision to rule out a goal in a stalemate with Crystal Palace.

The hosts were initially awarded a goal by referee Michael Salisbury when Tyrick Mitchell knocked the ball into his own net.

But after a VAR review, it was ruled that Joe Willock had fouled Vicente Guaita moments beforehand, although replays showed how Mitchell appeared to push the Newcastle man into the Palace goalkeeper.

Newcastle had already been left frustrated after record signing Alexander Isak fluffed an attempt to dink the ball over Guaita when clean through, while Miguel Almiron also hit the post with a deflected shot.

Palace - who, like Newcastle, have only won once this season - did not severely test home goalkeeper Nick Pope until a late improvement, when Odsonne Edouard's close-range shot forced him to save.

But, after Willock shinned wide from two yards late on, the point will be welcome for Patrick Vieira's side, who earned their third draw of the season.

Newcastle are now winless in five games for the first time under Howe, but he said he disagreed with the decision to disallow the own goal.

Former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer said it was "pathetic" to rule it out.

Howe added: "I thought it was a push on Joe Willock in the build-up to the ball coming in. Without that push, there's no way Joe would have gone in with that force. So for me, it's not a foul, if anything, it's a penalty if it's not a goal."

Isak fluffs chance as Newcastle wasteful

Newcastle and their noisy supporters will have felt aggrieved by the result, especially as some of the crowd were able to watch a replay of the game's biggest talking point on the big screen.

From one angle, it appeared as if Willock took Guaita out, but another view showed how Mitchell was the architect of the collision that left the Newcastle player needing treatment.

Nonetheless referee Salisbury overturning his initial decision led to a smattering of boos at full-time.

It was a disappointing return to St James' Park for Newcastle after pushing Liverpool so close in Wednesday's 2-1 defeat at Anfield and also sharing a 3-3 draw with Manchester City on their last home outing.

They paid for wasteful finishing, with record £60m signing Isak failing to back up his thrilling debut in midweek, where he scored against Liverpool.

Having begun brightly at both ends of the pitch, the Swede could have made himself an instant hero in front of the Gallowgate End, as he dispossessed Joachim Andersen on the halfway line but chose to chip Guaita and got it all wrong.

The 22-year-old also had a good chance in the second half but his shot was tame, and it summed up a poor game in front of goal for Howe's side, who are missing Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximin and Bruno Guimaraes through injury.

Howe said of the Swedish international: "He will be disappointed to miss that because I think he would back himself to score and I'd certainly back him to score but he's gone for a certain type of finish but he didn't quite execute it right.

"I thought we starved him of with the ball a little bit and I desperately wanted him to try and get on the ball more, especially in the attacking third.

"It's just that he's had no training time with us. So he's been thrust right into action and I think he's done very well but there's a lot of improvement for us as a team to try and serve him."

In fairness to Isak, there were more chances that fell to Willock and Almiron, but despite spending £117m in the transfer window, it shows an area of the pitch where Newcastle are perhaps still lacking depth.

Palace frustrating but snatch point

Palace have shown a threat this season by going ahead away from home against both Liverpool and Manchester City - although they ended up with a point at Anfield and a 4-2 defeat at Etihad Stadium.

But at St James' Park, they could not match Newcastle's energy, and although they carved out several decent first-half chances, none of them really tested Pope.

Wilfried Zaha, who has scored 13 goal in 20 Premier League appearances this calendar year, was frustrated in his attempts to beat Kieran Trippier or Pope. Eberechi Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta also wasted good opportunities.

The fact the game was goalless going into the second half was down to Newcastle's wastefulness and some fine Palace defending. Guaita stopped efforts from Sean Longstaff and Sven Botman, while the Dutch defender was also denied by an amazing block by Marc Guehi.

After the hosts started the second half on top once more, Patrick Vieira made a triple substitution to try to revive Palace, and it almost paid off immediately.

Edouard finally made Pope stretch to make a fine save after twisting and turning in the box.

As the game opened up, there were further chances but Palace failed to find the final pass and somehow managed to hang on at the other end.

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