JP Mateta's magical year – and promise for 2025

In celebration, we're posting Mateta's recent programme feature interview, in which the Frenchman reflected on an incredible year.

This interview was initially published in the Crystal Palace v Chelsea programme - you can buy the matchday programme by clicking HERE.

In the run up to the New Year, many of us will have had time to take a moment to reflect and to collect our thoughts. It’s an opportunity to evaluate everything that’s happened in the last 12 months and shape an approach for the year ahead in the form of resolutions – or 'goals', maybe.

A Premier League footballer scarcely enjoys such a luxury. The games keep coming thick and fast in the festive period, and while 2024 has now concluded, Palace’s season – in many ways – feels like it is just beginning.

“For me personally, January was hard,” Jean-Philippe Mateta takes us right back to the beginning of Palace’s 2024. It feels like a lifetime – not just the 12 months – ago.

“You always want to win, and as a team you always want to play well, but we didn’t get the results.” The Eagles were struggling at the start of 2024, hovering precariously above the relegation zone and being eliminated from the FA Cup by Everton after a third-round replay.

“When you’re not playing well, you’ve got to keep working and hope you play better. We were trying and working hard at the time and keeping spirits together. It was tough in February, too. We continued to push hard, but we still didn’t get the results we wanted...”

Enter Oliver Glasner. “I know a new manager brings energy,” Mateta recalls. “We all know we might get another chance to feature and bring some new energy. We felt it with that first result” – a 3-0 win over Burnley in the new manager’s first game in charge.

“Oliver’s system really suits me. I’m a player who likes to go in behind. I’m a player who likes to get involved in the box. I’m a striker, of course, I like to finish! Oliver’s game, his tactics, his set-up... it all suited me so well.

“We started so well with the new manager. At first, the results did not paint a picture of the way we were playing. We were playing well, but the results weren’t there straight after Burnley.”

While Glasner’s tenure started well with a resounding victory, it was not until midway through April the tide started to properly turn – but how it did. We need not remind you – but maybe we will – of Palace beating Liverpool at Anfield, or Mateta scoring back-to-back braces against Newcastle United and West Ham United, or his double against Manchester United.

“We were creating lots of chances in the box in those games, and when we create chances in the box, I’m there to score,” Mateta beams. “The confidence was so, so high.

“We have so many good players here and we just said: ‘let’s keep winning.’ We took every game as it arrived. We always want to do better than the last one and have fun doing so.

“I’m a player who likes to have fun, and we have a lot of fun together as a team on the pitch when it all comes together – so this is the motivation for us.”

Victory at Anfield kick-started a run of six wins out of seven, the Eagles scoring 21 goals. Mateta was responsible for nine of them, including Palace’s first-ever Selhurst Park Premier League hat-trick on the final day against Aston Villa, our joint-biggest top-flight league win.

Indeed, not only was it Palace’s first home hat-trick in the top tier since Mike Flanagan’s in October 1980, but the striker had also scored in seven consecutive top-flight home matches – another club record.

With Palace sealing only a second top-half Premier League finish, Mateta scooped the Players’ Player of the Year award – but while many of his teammates headed off for a well-earned rest, it was by no means the end of the action for him.

Mateta took some time to head abroad to Rio de Janeiro to recharge, but all-the-while continued to prepare for a home Summer Olympic games, having earned a call-up as an ‘overage’ player for France Under-23s – his first international recognition in five years.

“It was good to be in Brazil, to be in Rio – it feels like home for me!” he smiles. “It’s one of my favourite places in the world. It’s amazing.

“As a footballer, I encourage everyone to go there – it’s the country of football. Everywhere you go they’re talking about football, playing football, it’s everything for them.

“I had a bit of rest, but then I had to get back to work quickly. The Olympics came around in July, and it was a good experience for me. It had been a long time since I played for France, and it was also a long time since I played in France.

“I was actually back in South London training a month before the Olympics actually started – I was here for hours! It was tough, but it was worth it, because we made it all the way to the final.”

As he alludes to, Mateta had more history to write, scoring twice in his first game back for Les Bleus: a warm-up match against Paraguay.

The story, there-on in, continued to stun, as he became the first-ever player to win an Olympic medal whilst playing for Palace.

Mateta donned the captain’s armband and scored a brilliant flick in a group-stage win over New Zealand; netted match-winning goals against Argentina and Egypt in the quarter- and semi-finals respectively; and then showed nerves of steel at the most of critical of moments in the Gold Medal match.

“I stepped up to take a penalty in the last minute of stoppage time,” Mateta recalls making it 3-3 against Spain at Parc des Princes. “I knew it would be tough, but I wanted to take that responsibility. Personally, I like to face the pressure.

“Thierry Henry and everyone in the country wanted that Gold Medal, and we finished with silver [after defeat to Spain in extra-time] – but I enjoyed every minute of it. The new season was starting a week later!”

Football never stands still.

Just nine days later, in a whirlwind turnaround, the striker found himself on the pitch at the Gtech Community Stadium, as Palace’s 2024/25 campaign got underway against Brentford – but Mateta, by his own admission, felt like his performances weren’t quite reaching the same standard.

“To be fair, I tried my best after returning so quickly, but my body was feeling tired,” he admits. “In my head I always want to be on the pitch and do everything to win.

“I played 45 minutes against Brentford, feeling a bit tired. Against Chelsea I was on the bench, but still supporting the team – I always try to encourage the team even if I’m not playing, and help in any way that I can.

“I got my first two goals of the new season [in a 2-2 draw] against Leicester at Selhurst Park. Once again, I love and enjoy that pressure of taking a penalty late on – a striker should take any opportunity they can to score!

“I’ve always loved scoring against Leicester! That goal I scored in 2023” – Mateta’s mind drifts to his last-minute winner in April of that year in 2023 – “was my best goal for Palace! Everything about it – the quality of the goal, the timing, the fact we needed the points… it was amazing.”

As quickly as last season finished, the fresh campaign got fully underway – and 2024/25 took both striker and club time to truly get going.

“We had new faces coming in at the end of September,” Mateta says. “It was easy for me to adapt with everyone new being experienced players, but it was hard at the same time.

"The manager has everything planned, and it can be hard for players to understand and adapt so quickly after joining. You need time, but time in the season is hard to come by – that’s why we were struggling at first. We also had a lot of injuries too, so it was hard across the board.”

Mateta’s smile returns as he recounts the first win of the current campaign: “It was critical to get the win against Tottenham Hotspur – we needed that.

"We were so happy to get it in front of our fans – and of course I was happy to score and do my celebration!”

It was a celebration seen again not too long after, with Mateta scoring a superb individual effort in the win over Ipswich Town in early December. “This goal was good!” he smiles. “We needed those three points.

“Here, we fight for each and every one of our points and, with that, we want to win more and more games. The mindset for me is to win the next game, and then the next one, and the next one.

"We train to compete – and win as much as possible.”

We finish, then, with one more eyebrow-raising statistic: in the calendar year of 2024, only four other players in the Premier League scored more goals than Jean-Philippe Mateta’s 25 combined for club and country.

“2024 was one of the best years of my life – my best year so far at Palace,” he smiles. “But I want even more.

“I always want to score more – and do better.”

Consider that a New Year’s resolution – one he is already on course to fulfil.