Match Report
Crystal Palace (0) 0-2 (1) Fulham
Premier League Match Day 11 24/25 at Selhurst Park
Saturday 9th November 2024 KO: 15:00
Referee:
Michael Salisbury (Lancashire)
|
Fulham made it two wins in a week with a dominant 2-0 victory away to Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
It looked like we would go in at half-time level despite having the better of things, until Emile Smith Rowe’s cool finish in stoppage time.
The midfielder then had a goal ruled out early on in the second half, before Palace had Daichi Kamada sent off for a high challenge.
Harry Wilson enjoyed another lively cameo off the bench, wrapping up the points with one of his first touches, before having another disallowed for handball.
Marco Silva named an unchanged side to the one that defeated Brentford earlier in the week, meaning Wilson – the hero from that night – had to settle for a place on the bench.
After a lot of early Fulham possession, it was our hosts who had the first sniff of goal when Jean-Philippe Mateta tried to take advantage of a miscontrol from Joachim Andersen, but the former Eagle recovered well to force his former teammate into slicing his shot.
We then went up the other end a minute later through Alex Iwobi’s driving run – he squared for Raúl Jiménez who controlled, spun, and volleyed a yard wide from the edge of the box.
Reiss Nelson came close to breaking the deadlock in the 14th minute. Raúl held the ball up and laid off to Iwobi, who slid a perfect pass into the path of Nelson’s smart run. His shot was hit well enough, but Dean Henderson made a good save to maintain parity.
Nelson was getting plenty of joy cutting in from the left, and he’ll feel he might have done better when he drilled wide a couple of minutes later after being found by Smith Rowe.
Fulham were gifted an opening when Iwobi charged down a clearance which diverted into the path of Smith Rowe, but he was denied by a crunching Maxence Lacroix challenge.
There were then half chances at either end, with Marc Guehi and Mateta heading off target from set-pieces, either side of Antonee Robinson’s rising strike sailing over.
| Match Stats |
Crystal Palace |
Fulham |
td>
| Goals |
(0) 0 |
2 (1) |
|
| Scorers |
- |
Smith Rowe 45+2 |
|
- |
Wilson 83 |
| , |
| Goal attempts |
13 |
17 |
| On target |
5 |
7 |
| Shooting Accuracy |
38% |
41% |
| Possession |
35% |
65% |
| Passes |
340 |
621 |
| Passes Success |
77% |
85% |
| Corners |
1 |
8 |
| Tackles |
20 |
17 |
| Tackles Success |
55% |
65% |
| Saves |
5 |
4 |
| Fouls |
10 |
11 |
| Offsides |
1 |
4 |
| Yellows |
1 |
1 |
| Reds |
1 |
0 |
| source: SkySports |
As half-time neared, the Whites almost went in front in stunning fashion. Brave play from Smith Rowe allowed him to prod through to Nelson, who dinked a cross over to Iwobi at the far post. His volley was fiercely struck and bound for the top corner, until Henderson was able to palm over.
But it was Palace who nearly had the advantage going into the break when Mateta’s header crept towards goal having spun off a Bernd Leno arm, but Andersen got back brilliantly to smash it off the line.
It was a lively end to proceedings, and it was Fulham who got our noses in front in the final minute of stoppage time. Smith Rowe’s high press intercepted Lacroix’s pass and dropped to Raúl, whose return pass was perfect, allowing the midfielder to drive forward and finish across Henderson expertly.
Silva’s men started the second half strongly but Leno had to make the first save, throwing himself at the feet of Daniel Munoz who had got in behind. VAR would have ruled it out for offside, but our number one was not to know that.
Smith Rowe thought he’d got his and Fulham’s second when he tucked home Iwobi’s cross at the end of a rapid counter-attack, but a lengthy VAR check ruled it out by the finest of margins for offside.
Undeterred, Fulham pressed on, with Iwobi at the heart of things again, picking out the run of Andreas Pereira who sent a rocket into the face of the onrushing Henderson.
And the two became acquainted again soon after when Andreas let fly from 20 yards. Henderson knew a lot more about this one, though, tipping over at full stretch. Andreas then found Raúl from the corner, and the Mexican was unfortunate to see his angled volley fly inches over.
Midway through the half, neat link-up play following a Robinson throw led to a sighter for Nelson, but Henderson was equal to his effort, as was the case when Mateta got a shot away into Leno’s grasp at the other end.
Iwobi then had a side-foot volley blocked and Nelson placed one wide, as Fulham probed for that crucial second goal.
With quarter of an hour to play, Palace found themselves down to 10 men when Kamada mistimed his challenge and recklessly raked Kenny Tete down his shin.
If Wilson was disappointed not to have started the game, he didn’t show it when introduced in place of Nelson, needing just 39 seconds to get on the end of Iwobi’s through ball and finish first time past Henderson.
We thought there was a beautiful case of déjà vu when Wilson got on the end of fellow substitute Adama Traoré’s cross and prodded home, but VAR spotted that the ball bounced against his arm just prior to the finish.
It would have been a bonus to add to the scoreline but it mattered not in the end, as Fulham closed out a thoroughly impressive performance in routine fashion.
Fulham boss Marco Silva:
"It's clear we deserved the three points. Dominant from the first minute, knowing really well how Palace is going to try to punish us or create problems for us. We controlled well most of the game. The thing that pleased me more was the way we moved the ball.
"Two goals, plus two goals disallowed, we can be proud of the way we played again. We should have scored more goals but overall a great performance. We needed a clean sheet."
On what Harry Wilson must do to start a game: "He's doing the right things. He's doing nothing wrong. He's competing against very good players. Great competition between them is good for me and the team. It was a great week for him. He was angry at the end of the match because for him it was difficult to take his hand from that position [for the disallowed goal]."
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner:
"Today it's easy to sum up the game: Fulham were the better team. We made too many easy mistakes. When we had situations to come back into the game we didn't take them. Then the red card, 1-0 down, it's the first game this season where we deserved to lose the game.
"We don't look for an excuse. The team that played today could have done better in many situations. We played too slow. If you make so many mistakes you lose more and more of your confidence. When there was the red card the game was over.
"Today we had several players not in their best shape. We did really well last week. The players looked tired but also mentally tired. We have to get back that sharpness and freshness."
On playing Marc Guehi in midfield: "Marc is one of our most experienced players, to have him next to Justin. Marc did really well against Villa in the last game, he's intelligent and confident with the ball. But to be honest. It didn't work."
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Chalobah, Lacroix, Clyne (Doucoure 62), Munoz (Kporha 88), Guehi, Devenny (Schlupp 74), Mitchell, Kamada, Sarr (Agbinone 88), Mateta
Unused substitutes: Ward, Richards, Turner, Matthews, Marsh
Booked: Lacroix (90+1,f),
Red Card : Kamada (76,f),
Fulham: Leno, Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson, Pereira (Cairney 83), Berge, Iwobi (Traore 89), Smith Rowe (Reed 89), Nelson (Wilson 82), Jimenez (Muniz 75)
Unused substitutes: Castagne, Benda, Sessegnon, Diop
Goals:
Smith Rowe 45+2 (The visitors lead just before half-time as Lacroix, bringing the ball out from the back, passes straight to Smith Rowe in the centre circle - and the playmaker then plays a one-two with Jimenez, who slips the playmaker into the box and he beats the advancing Henderson, who got hands on to his shot, but was not strong enough to turn it wide of the far post.)
Wilson 83(Game, set and match and what is more, it is Wilson's first touch since coming on as Iwobi splits the Palace defence wide open and the sub simply has to run on to the pass and slide a low shot under Henderson - one minute and eight seconds after entering the fray. FPL Assist: Iwobi)
Booked: Iwobi (63,f),
Referee:
Michael Salisbury (Lancashire)
Attendance: 25,142
Fulham are next in action on Saturday 23rd November when they are
at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers