Eddie Howe's arrived at St. James’ Park hoping to build on the momentum gained in its confident 3-1 victory over Burnley last time out, and it began the New Year in some style.

The hosts had to be patient, however, with Anthony Gordon and Joelinton both seeing first-half goals ruled out for offside.

Gordon tapped into an open net 19 minutes in off Yoane Wissa’s unselfish centre, though the goal was disallowed after a video assistant referee (VAR) review, while Joelinton had strayed offside before cushioning Fabian Schar’s deep pass and drilling past Dean Henderson minutes before the break.

The Magpies’ breakthrough finally arrived in the 71st minute, when Guimaraes reacted quickest to nod home from close range off Lewis Miley’s return pass after Palace failed to fully clear its lines.

Newcastle doubled its advantage seven minutes later as Guimaraes's corner caused some heavy chaos inside the box, opening the door for Malick Thiaw to slide the ball past Henderson amid a scramble.

The Eagles’ best chance of the night came with the final kick of the first half, as Will Hughes played a smart one-two with Yeremy Pino, receiving the return pass inside the penalty area and sending a low effort narrowly wide.

Brennan Johnson, making his Palace debut, also came close, forcing a sharp save from Nick Pope, but Newcastle’s pressure simply proved too much.

Palace is winless in its past seven matches across all competitions, losing four of those, its longest such run since a stretch of eight games between November and December 2023.

It also failed to register a single shot on target in the first half, marking the third time it has done so away from home since the start of last season.

“It was a good performance but in the last four defeats we lost three just from set pieces,” Eagles boss Oliver Glasner said.

“It’s not acceptable and I have to find solutions to support the players better.

"We can’t afford to give so many goals away from set pieces, it’s the reason we lost today.

“I was pleased with how we moved the ball and defended [but] we need to look at where we can improve. We need to do better.”

Newcastle is now unbeaten in its past seven home Premier League matches, having scored exactly two goals in each game during that run.

“It’s a better position but we’ve got more work to do,” boss Howe said.

“We’ve got a massive month ahead.

"We need to build some momentum and confidence and today is a big step forward.

“It was a tough game, it always is against Palace. Oliver [Glasner] has done an amazing job.

"We had to be patient. I think the substitutions made a difference and helped us over the line.

“I think they were two good moves for the goals that weren't. We needed that first goal to relax us. I think we got better and better in the game.”