Crystal Palace earned a lively 2-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage, a result that continued a pattern already highlighted in earlier reports from Softfootball, including the preview on how Palace push for top four. The victory moved Palace into the Premier League’s top four and marked their third straight league win on the road.
It also stretched Fulham’s long home drought against Palace, which has now lasted since January 2005, a run that feels even stranger when compared with big Craven Cottage battles such as the nine-goal thriller against City, as reported by Softfootball.
Palace were missing a couple of important players, so no one was really sure how sharp they would look. But they started confidently. Jean-Philippe Mateta tested Bernd Leno early, a warning Fulham didn’t quite pay attention to.
Soon after, Eddie Nketiah, filling in for the injured Ismaïla Sarr, hammered in a clean strike from the edge of the area after Adam Wharton picked him out smartly. Fulham tried responding with a decent effort from Emile Smith-Rowe, but Dean Henderson tipped it over.
The equaliser eventually came when Harry Wilson produced a lovely outside-of-the-foot finish after combining with Raúl Jiménez. The first half had moments where it drifted, though the second half started much faster. Kenny Tete went close for Fulham, and Mateta dragged one wide at the other end as both sides looked more direct.
Fulham thought they had completed a comeback when Alex Iwobi’s header hit the post and Smith-Rowe scored the rebound. VAR, however, ruled that Samuel Chukwueze was offside earlier in the move. The decision slightly disrupted Fulham’s rhythm, even after Marco Silva sent on more attacking players.
Crystal Palace shared a post on their official X account marking this dramatic 2-1 London derby win over Fulham, as they secure their ascent to 4th in the Premier League, just 7 points from the top.
Check the post below:
Palace grew stronger near the end and created two late chances before Marc Guehi broke free at the near post to head in Yéremy Pino’s corner. It sealed the win and continued a run in which the away team has now won the last four meetings.
