9 November 2024
Crystal Palace 0 Fulham 2
It has been a tough slog for Oliver Glasner and his players so far this season. They have struggled to find wins and as a result have been flirting with the bottom three like a paralytic man on Tinder at 3am after an all-day sesh. They welcomed Fulham to Selhurst Park, whose form has been erratic to say the least but were looking to find some consistency at The Eagles’ expense.
With plenty of players missing due to injury, Glasner was forced to bring in England U21 captain Devenny for his Premier League debut. The visitors had the first chance of the game when Nelson used his pace to get ahead of the hosts’ defence but his shot was saved by the feet of Henderson. The former Arsenal winger seems to have the touch of teammate Traore in front of goal.
Clyne then saw his clearance charged down by Iwobi and the ball deflected into the path of Smith-Rowe with the goal in his sights. Just as he looked to pull the trigger, Lacroix came sliding across and made a block but he looked like a lucky boy not to give away a penalty. His studs were showing as he made the challenge and his boot also seemed high.
It was one of those ones where a VAR review was never going to send the referee to the monitor. As the onfield decision was no penalty, they would not deem it a ‘clear and obvious error’ to get involved. That said, that is the law on paper, we have seen plenty of occasions already this season where they have contradicted that in the Premier League.
Smith-Rowe was looking dangerous in the centre of midfield pulling the strings for The Cottagers. He released Nelson out wide who hung a cross up to the back post. Iwobi struck a fierce shot on the volley and Henderson did well to claw it over the crossbar. It was relentless pressure from the visitors and it only seemed a matter of time before they would score.
Against the run of play, The Eagles almost broke the deadlock. As a cross came into the box, Mateta capitalised on some indecisiveness in the Fulham defence. His header got a slight touch from Leno but was heading into the goal until Andersen cleared it off the line. The former Palace defender denied his old employers a goal to rub salt in the wound.
Marco Silva’s side went up the other end and Lacroix’s attempted pass was cut out by Smith-Rowe. It ricocheted into the path of Jimenez who returned the favour for the former Arsenal midfielder. He ran through on goal and slotted past Henderson into the bottom corner of the goal to give the visitors the lead at Selhurst Park.
Just after the interval, Fulham failed to clear their lines and Sarr fed the ball into the path of Munoz. His shot was blocked by Leno but the ball deflected out to Devenny on the edge of the box. The youngster struck a first time effort but it went well over the crossbar. These are the fine margins between defeat and victory at this level. Although the replay showed Munoz was offside in the build-up.
As an attack broke down for The Eagles, Fulham transitioned from defence to attack rapidly. It saw the ball played out wide to Iwobi, who put an inch-perfect cross in for Smith-Rowe to slot home to double the visitors’ lead. Sadly for Silva’s side it was to be ruled out for offside by the slightest of margins. It was that close that there would have been no complaints had it stood.
It is amazing the clueless things commentators say. Iwobi crossed into Pereira whose shot struck Henderson in the face and stayed out. Cue the ‘it’s a brilliant save’ comment. The keeper knew as much about that save as the dinosaurs did about the meteor that wiped out their existence. You can see why so many people mute the TV when watching games nowadays.
Kamada then lunged in for a reckless challenge on Pereira. He caught the Fulham man high up the leg with his studs showing. The referee had no option but to give The Eagles’ midfielder a straight red card. Any hope that Palace had of getting something out of this game disappeared with him as he trudged off down the tunnel.
Fulham managed to put the game to bed when the ball was played into substitute Wilson. The in-form Welshman slotted past Henderson to score his third goal in two appearances from the bench. He is in a rich vein of form for the West London outfit. It was no more than they deserved from this game as they were the much better team.
Another bizarre reality of the modern game. If that was a defender, it would be deemed his hand was in a ‘natural position’ and no penalty would be given. The beautiful inconsistency of the Premier League. Fulham took all three points and move up the table into seventh place. They have accrued the most points in a top-flight campaign for the club at this stage of the season since 1960.
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