Oliver Glasner made two enforced changes from the eleven that earned a point at Wolves last weekend. Nathaniel Clyne came in for the injured Eddie Nketiah, while Justin Devenny was handed a debut in place of the suspended Will Hughes. Atypically, captain Marc Guehi slotted into midfield alongside Devenny, with Clyne slotting in at right-back. Daichi Kamada filled the void left by Nketiah.
Despite fielding an unsettled midfield, it was Glasner’s side who began on the front foot. Clyne looped a great ball over the top of the Fulham defence which former Eagle Joachim Andersen completely misread. Jean-Philippe Mateta was ahead of the Fulham defender, but as the ball fell to his feet, the Frenchman got his shot completely wrong.
Early excitement from Palace quickly became Fulham control. Dean Henderson was called into action after 13 minutes when play bypassed the Eagles in the middle of the park. Raul Jimenez found Alex Iwobi in a quick passing move. The Nigerian slotted Reiss Nelson through, with Henderson forced to make a crucial save with his feet.
Slopiness with the ball became a theme for Palace. Clyne hesitated in possession on the edge of the penalty area and gifted Iwobi the ball. The winger found Emile Smith Rowe, who seemed certain to score until Maxence Lacroix made an exceptional recovery, flying into his trademark crunching tackle.
Besides a great Palace attack which saw Daniel Munoz flash a ball across goal with nobody on hand to tap his delivery home, the best chances had fallen to Fulham – mainly from Palace’s unforced errors.
Plenty of mistakes in possession came back to bite Palace just before half time. Lacroix lost the ball inside his own half after being pressured by Smith Rowe. Claiming possession, Jimenez played Fulham’s summer signing through with the ex-Arsenal man doing enough to give his side the lead. Palace shot-stopper Henderson got his hand to the attacker’s effort, but failed to do enough to keep it out of the net.
The second half was a continuation of the first. Fulham enjoyed control for the first 25 minutes, putting Palace under a barrage of pressure.
Marco Silva’s side almost wrapped up the three points less than ten minutes after the break. The quick break from the Cottagers saw Smith Rowe put his second past Henderson, feasting off Iwobi’s cross. However, the Eagles were handed a reprieve, with VAR deeming Fulham’s talisman marginally offside.
Palace tried to build into the second half, but a moment of madness from Kamada killed all hopes of a comeback, with the Japanese international dismissed for an extremely late tackle on Kenny Tete. Kamada was high on Tete’s shin. He had to go. Easy decision for the referee.
The final 15 minutes at Selhurst Park were tedious. Palace were clueless in attack, while Fulham did the job brilliantly.
With his first touch, Harry Wilson confirmed Fulham’s sixth win in a row against Palace, slotting a low shot past Henderson after 83 minutes. Take nothing away from the finish, but Iwobi’s pass to cut through the fragile Palace defence was superb.
Heading into the international break, Crystal Palace sit just a point outside the relegation zone after Gary O’Neil’s Wolves earned their first win of the campaign.
Lineups
Crystal Palace: Henderson; Munoz (Kphora 88), Clyne (Doucoure 61), Lacroix, Chalobah, Mitchell; Guehi, Devenny (Schlupp 74); Sarr (Seller 88), Mateta, Kamada.
Fulham: Leno; Robinson, Bassey, Andersen, Tete; Berge, Pereria (Cairney 83), Smith Rowe (Reed 89); Nelson (Wilson 82), Jimenez (Muniz 75), Iwobi (Traore 89).
