Jean Philippe-Mateta Surely Plays Final Game for Crystal Palace After Red Card

Pierre Sage is likely to have seen enough from one of his big names after his Crystal Palace side were condemned to another defeat at a resurgent Tottenham on Saturday evening.

Goals from Archie Gray and Jan Paul van-Hecke secured a 2-0 win for the home side as the Eagles were unable to follow up on their Carabao Cup victory in midweek over Fulham by taking any momentum into the league.

Jean-Philippe Mateta was shown a straight red card after just 13 minutes following a VAR review as Michael Oliver upgraded his initial booking to a sending off for a studs-up challenge on Micky van de Ven.

The visitors were facing an uphill climb from there, and some dismal marking from a corner on 25 minutes allowed Gray to head in unchallenged.

To their credit the Palace players continued to battle but possession stats hovering around 20 per-cent told the story for under-fire Sage’s men who never looked likely to mount a comeback.

Mateta red card ruins Palace trip to Spurs

Three wins in succession, including an ultra-rare victory at Stamford Bridge, show Tottenham are no longer the basket case they appeared earlier in the season but Palace would have felt capable of getting something if they put the pressure on early and managed to make the home fans restless.

Going a man down so quickly had the exact opposite effect, and Dwight McNeil’s failure to take an early chance probably threw away any hope of springing an upset.

Mateta can’t be accused of getting sent off or purpose, nor did he look like he was aiming to catch Van de Ven on the back of his ankle, but it is now difficult to see him featuring for Sage again given the circumstances around each.

The Premier League Match Centre posted on X that the VAR had said during the review: “Point of contact is on the achilles, nowhere near the ball. He’s sprinting at full speed with intensity, the studs catch him flush on the achilles. I think it ticks all the boxes for serious foul play.”

The Frenchman had been lunging to challenge in between the retreating centre-backs Van de Ven and Van Hecke as they were racing back towards their own goal midway inside the Spurs half, but got there late and only made contact with the man.

Oliver agreed with the VAR and told the stadium: “After review, Crystal Palace number 14 makes full, forceful contact with the studs on his opponent’s achilles. The final decision is red card.”

Sage or Mateta to leave Selhurst Park

At his best Mateta is surely the best striker at the club but it has been some time since fans saw him at that level, and after multiple transfer windows where the 29-year-old has looked to secure a move away it feels increasingly inevitable that he departs before he ever returns to the sort of form he showed during the height of the Oliver Glasner era.

The France international wanted to leave in January and tried to get the final year of his contract ruled invalid in the summer but failed in appeals to a Premier League tribunal and FIFA.

A hamstring injury then put paid to any hopes of a move before the end of the transfer window but with the likes of Jorgan Strand Larsen and Ismaila Sarr also out hurt Mateta has found himself back in the lineup.

Given the contract dispute it is already surprising to see him still turning out for the club, but when Sage’s job is on the line it is hard to see the manager turning to his compatriot again before one or both depart in light of how it turned out at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Mateta will be facing a three-match ban and should now miss games against Liverpool, Coventry and Hull before the 2 December fixture against Chelsea, by which time the Eagles would hope to have injured players back fit.

He can feature in the Europa League before then but whether the manager is willing to put faith in him is another matter. His contract expires in 2027 and with virtually no chance of a new deal being signed the club will surely cash in to whatever degree is available in January.

Sage may have got a key win over Glasner and Nottingham Forest earlier in October, but for all the fans would have loved getting one over on their former boss it will have largely gone out of the window after the 5-0 thrashing by rivals Brighton a week later.

The manager is on thin ice and will be feeling burned by his attempt to rely on Mateta at Spurs. Neither look long for the club at this stage barring a stunning turnaround, but if one or both of them do leave in the near future the striker’s departure will surely be the sadder in light of what he has achieved previously.