Fulham 1 Crystal Palace 1
Fulham welcomed Crystal Palace to Craven Cottage for a London derby. The visitors have been in some good form of late with impressive wins over Liverpool and West Ham. Marco Silva was keen for a victory that would see them open a six-point gap on the visitors in the table.
The visitors started knocking the ball around with real intent. Wharton threaded a pass to Olise and you would have put your house on The Eagles taking the lead. The young winger took a touch to control it before looking to bend it in the corner but it went narrowly wide.
Mateta then made a run into the box but was taken out wide so looked to cut the ball back to Munoz. He went down under the challenge as he looked to pull the trigger. The referee waved away his protests for a penalty and VAR agreed with the on-field decision.
Mitchell won a free kick in a wide area for Palace. Olise swung a teasing cross in and Richards had a free header in the box. Sadly for the visitors he could not keep his effort down as it fizzed over the crossbar. Fulham barely created a single chance in the first half, while Palace wasted theirs.
Credit: @FulhamFC
It was one of those games where you wondered if Oliver Glasner’s side were going to pay for their wasteful finishing. After the interval, Castagne got down the wing and crossed to find Muniz in the box, who headed home to give The Cottagers the lead.
The Eagles continued to press, desperately looking for an equaliser. As the ball was played to Edouard in the box, he shifted it to give himself room to get a shot away. As he looked to drill it into the far corner, Leno got down well to deny him.
Silva’s side hit Palace on the counter-attack as a searching direct ball picked out Iwobi on the wing. He held the ball up well, waiting for some support and laid it off to Reed. As the midfielder looked to bend one in the far corner, he just could not keep his effort down.
Olise then passed it into Wharton in the middle of the park. He played it into the path of Schlupp, who struck a sublime shot into the top corner from outside the box. It was a good enough goal to win any game. We will be seeing that one again, that is for sure.
Sharing the points did not really do much for either side. Given the recent form they had been on, it was probably more important for the visitors to keep their unbeaten run going. Fulham sit three points clear of Crystal Palace with only one place separating them in the table.
Neither side have any relegation worries for the remainder of the season, nor are they vying for European places. For Oliver Glasner, he is looking to evolve this squad having taken over from Roy Hodgson but much of that will depend on whether they are able to hold onto Eze and Olise.
Credit: @CPFC
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