22 February 2025
Fulham 0 Crystal Palace 2
Being a Fulham season ticket holder must be like dating Kerry Katona. You wake up knowing it is a complete lottery which side of them you will see that day. On form, Marco Silva’s side can give most teams a game, especially at Craven Cottage. But on their off days, they will get battered by teams they should be beating. Crystal Palace were the visitors to West London this weekend.
Marco Silva’s post-match media work makes him look like a very angry man, capable of just erupting if you hit the right trigger to the untrained eye. Put yourself in his shoes, being Fulham manager is like dating someone with multiple personality disorder, and all bar one of them is as mad as a March hare. Having to absorb their crazy most days, resisting the urge to retaliate. Who wouldn’t be like a volcano ready to blow?
Most fans of other clubs would like to see The Cottagers qualify for Europe. They are one of those ‘fluffy bunny’ teams who pose no threat to your side but are a squad full of players looking to kick-start their careers after difficult spells elsewhere. The model works well for them, occasionally sprinkled with a £20-30m signing.
Palace struggled to find their feet this season but they have certain players they cannot afford to lose to injury. Their most influential player is unfortunately very injury prone. Eberechi Eze is that good that he transforms this team from, average at best, to being capable of upsetting anyone on their day. They have done well to keep him from the clutches of a bigger team for this long.
They had the first sight of goal with Mateta from a tight angle. He opted for power over precision and sent his shot wide of the near post when he really should have been working the keeper as a minimum. This sort of wastefulness lead to a narrow defeat at home against Everton in a game they had dominated and should have comfortably won.
Eze ran at the hosts, showcasing his trickery, movement, pace and close control. He weaved his way past two Fulham players before slotting it through to Mateta. As he tried to find Sarr out wide the move broke down but they recycled it well. Moments later Eze had it at his feet, sold his marker the wrong way before dropping his shoulder, turning and firing off a shot which the keeper blocked.
The Palace talisman was in one of those moods where you can see he is loving his job. When Eze is on this form, you wonder how far he could go at a higher level. His abilities deserve to be seen in the Champions League but you wonder if the big clubs are put off by his injury record. He would slot perfectly into an Arsenal or Liverpool team, an upgrade to both Martinelli and Diaz if you keep him fit.
Hughes whipped an inswinging corner in and Lacroix rose at the near post to head home. It was no more than The Eagles had deserved. The Cottagers just could not cope with Eze playing at these levels and it almost seemed that psychologically he had defeated Marco Silva’s side in this game as they realised, he was too good for them to stop.
Having seen the replay it was clear that the opening goal had been headed into his own net by Andersen. Since leaving Palace for West London for around the £30m mark, he has had nothing but absolute shockers facing his old club. Usually reliable for Fulham, he seemingly goes to pieces when facing The Eagles for some bizarre reason.
Silva’s side were struggling to create any threat in the final third. Jimenez thought he was through but Lacroix read his movement well, getting a vital touch to dispossess him. Eze had the ball with his back to goal and, without having to look, backheeled an inch-perfect pass to send Mateta clean through. He smashed the ball past Leno. Sadly for the Frenchman, it was ruled out for offside.
The Cottagers were struggling to get out of their own penalty area. Hughes put another dangerous corner into the box and Lacroix saw his header cleared off the line. Lerma then took it on the volley, on the edge of the box, but it deflected narrowly over the crossbar. At this point, it just seemed a matter of time before Glasner’s side scored again.
As a Fulham attack broke down, Mateta ran it out from the edge of his own box, skipping past two challenges to burst through the middle. He threaded it to Munoz out wide. He was holding it up waiting for the right space to get a cross in. As the defender stepped to one side to try and block it, the goal opened up for him as he drilled it past Leno.
Usually you would be critical of a keeper getting beat at his near post. However, the Palace midfielder struck it with such venom that is was past Leno before he could even react. The Eagles were good value for their win and the victory meant that they had won their last four away games in the Premier League, the first time the club had achieved this feat.
What is even more impressive, given the dreadful start they had, Crystal Palace can boast six away clean sheets. The only other team to replicate that this campaign are Arne Slot’s Liverpool. Credit has to go to the manager who stuck to his methods during that poor run they had, despite getting battered in his media duties. They will be aiming for a top-half finish this campaign.
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