For Jean-Philippe Mateta ambition seems to come naturally. Despite a stop-start Crystal Palace career that is only now starting to bloom, he is not short of confidence.
“If I get given my chance I can be one of the best goalscorers in the Premier League,” he says, unprompted.
That may feel like a bold claim for a striker who has 14 goals in 85 Premier League appearances, as does his “dream” of playing for the French national team and in the Champions League.
But Mateta is enjoying the best form of his Palace career and, as he sits down to talk in a gym near his home in south west London, he has reason to feel good and aim high.
He has three goals in his last five matches but it is the quality of his finishing, as much as the consistency, which is so impressive. There was an emphatic shot into the top corner against Nottingham Forest last Saturday, and a clever piece of improvisation with a backheel beyond goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski at Selhurst Park in the 1-1 draw with Luton Town last month, as well as a calmly taken penalty against Burnley.
Mateta has nine goals this season, including this backheel against Luton (Paul Harding/Getty Images)
The former is a Premier League goal of the month contender for March – the 26-year-old was unaware it had been nominated when informed by The Athletic – but his description of how he engineered the opportunity reveals much about a striker who is best when relying on instinct.
“When the ball comes you have to analyse quickly,” he says. “When I saw the goalkeeper was out you just have to think quickly.”
His form has seen him accrue an array of Premier League corner flags. Every Mateta goal is marked by him leaping high and volleying the flag in mid-air, accompanied by Palace fans shouting “Boooom” – something he first requested in April 2021.
It is a celebration he has performed since he was a teenager making his first appearances in the French third division with Chateauroux. It was partially inspired by another striker not lacking in self-confidence, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the player he most admired when he was younger.
“He was tall, he could run, hold the ball, and had great technique,” Mateta says. “He scored incredible goals. I saw him kick a corner flag, so maybe it’s because of him?”
Mateta’s trademark flag-kicking celebration (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
Three years after joining Palace initially on loan and then permanently from Bundesliga side Mainz, supporters are beginning to see what he agrees is the real Mateta.
He can make a case for being Palace’s most improved player of the season, not only with his goals, but his all-round contribution.
There was no one moment, though, which Mateta can pinpoint for explaining the turnaround. No major change to how he approaches his game, training regime or diet. It is simply, he says, because “now I’m on the pitch I can show my quality. I’m more confident.”
Mateta’s career at Palace has not been smooth. There was a run of starts at the end of his first season, but only six in the Premier League in his second, which yielded just two goals. But he has started each of the last 14 games – the longest sequence of his Palace career – as he made the most of an opportunity presented by an injury to Odsonne Edouard in the 2-1 defeat by Liverpool on December 9.
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Despite the struggles to establish himself – not helped by having already played under three different managers (Patrick Vieira, Roy Hodgson and Oliver Glasner) in as many years since joining – Mateta always believed he would be given a chance. That determination never wavered.
“I’m happy to play game after game,” he says. “The more I’m on the pitch the more I can assist and score. Before, I didn’t have many chances, I came on for five or 10 minutes.”
The theme in his answers is determination, hard work and above all else, familiarity. Maybe it is no coincidence that Mateta is enjoying the best spell of his Palace career after his most consistent run of games.
“Sometimes in life you get given advice and you can say, ‘Yeah I understand’ but if you don’t experience it then you can’t understand. The more you play the more you experience and understand it. That’s why I’m better game after game.”
But even with that self-belief, has Mateta – whose contract at Palace expires in 2026 – ever been tempted to seek a move for regular football?
“I think about a lot of things but now it’s in the past,” he says. “I’m at Palace and enjoying it.”
Mateta is using his physicality more impressively this season (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Mateta’s uplift in form has been a positive in a difficult season for his club. The failure to replace Wilfried Zaha when he left for Galatasaray in the summer and injuries which have limited Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise’s involvement have left Palace short of creativity.
It helps explain why the club’s stated ambition of a top-half Premier League finish is a long way from being realised: Palace are 14th in the table, eight points clear of danger but with a challenging run-in looming.
Mateta admits the loss of Eze and Olise for such long spells has had an impact but, true to form, he prefers to be optimistic.
“When they’re injured it’s hard but other players have to show what they can do and help the team,” he says. “Odsonne was injured too and I had to show myself, to help the team like a family.”
Mateta had offered glimpses of his skill and technical ability early in his Palace career, notably with his backheeled goal against Brighton in a 2-1 win behind closed doors in 2021. Even in his difficult second campaign, he provided a standout moment – a last-minute winner in Hodgson’s first game back as manager against Leicester City last April.
Introduced as a substitute, he took an exemplary first touch to match the pass from Jordan Ayew before driving in an excellent finish. It left Selhurst Park reverberating to his song – an adaption of the Venga Boys’ ‘Boom boom, boom, boom!’. It is his favourite moment at the club.
“It was good,” he says. “We were fighting to stay in the league. We pushed and pushed and I came on and scored and it was crazy. The fans were crazy. In the week I said to Roy, ‘I will score if you pick me’.”
This season, though, has seen his game go to a new level. His hold-up play has been the most notable improvement in his game, a point underlined by his ball retention ratings in his Smarterscout pizza charts from last season and this.
He is being asked to work harder this season. Whereas last year most of his touches came in or close to the penalty area, this year they have been far more evenly distributed across the attacking half.
“I work hard and I know if you work hard your chance will come,” Mateta says. “So I work hard. Because I’m playing more (I’m better). Before, I wasn’t playing much, I was on the bench and they called on me for the last 10 minutes, that was my job.
“Now that I’m starting, I can show my quality, I’m more confident. I know if you put me on the pitch you will see goals and assists. I’ve got more to show the fans.
“Compared to Germany the Premier League is stronger, there is more contact allowed. You have to learn this and now I’m stronger with the ball, I can keep the ball better than when I came. I’ve worked a lot. It’s not about (being physically) stronger, just understanding the game.”
It was in Germany where Mateta first encountered Glasner: the Austrian was in charge of Wolfsburg when Mateta made a substitute appearance for Mainz in a 4-0 defeat. He has only been in charge for six weeks, but Mateta is clear what he wants from his strikers.
“He wants a lot of runs in behind and a lot of energy,” he says. “That’s OK with me, I have no problem with it. The team is just one under the manager, everyone is important.”
Oliver Glasner has made Mateta his No 1 striker (Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
That sense of unity is something Mateta wants to make a major contribution to as Palace face up to their daunting run-in, which starts tomorrow with a game against Manchester City – a club Mateta has already enjoyed some success against this season, having scored and won a penalty against the champions at the Etihad Stadium during a 2-2 draw in December.
Considered to be a joker in the dressing room, Mateta says he enjoys a strong relationship with everyone in the squad, from the experienced heads to the academy players who step up. It is a positive atmosphere that he helps foster and hopes to continue.
“Sometimes you have to be serious, sometimes you can joke – I’m the guy who brings the good vibes,” he says. “I like when people around me laugh. Just enjoy the moment. We do the best job in the world.”
(Top photo: The Athletic)
