Fulham claim comfortable win at 10-man Palace
Fulham continued their fine early-season form with a comfortable Premier League win at struggling Crystal Palace.
The result lifted the Cottagers up to sixth in the table on the same points as fourth-placed Chelsea, although the Blues play their game in hand against Arsenal – who are also on 18 points – on Sunday.
Emile Smith Rowe set Fulham on their way in the second minute of added time in the first half, racing on to Raul Jimenez’s pass and dispatching a left-foot effort past Dean Henderson after a mistake from Palace defender Maxence Lacroix.
And on an afternoon when Marco Silva’s team could and should have won even more emphatically, Harry Wilson scored his third goal of the week after coming on as a substitute with seven minutes left.
To compound fourth-bottom Palace’s misery, they had Daichi Kamada sent off in the 76th minute for a reckless challenge on Kenny Tete.
Without Eddie Nketiah, Adam Wharton, Eberechi Eze and Jefferson Lerma, there was an unfamiliar look to the Palace starting line-up.
While Eagles boss Oliver Glasner tried to shore up his midfield by deploying his England defender Marc Guehi alongside 21-year-old debutant Justin Devenny, it was an experiment that did not really work.
Outplayed for long periods, Palace’s only sporadic threat came mainly when they took a more direct route through to Jean-Philippe Mateta.
The French striker headed Northern Ireland Under-21 international Devenny’s first-half delivery just over the bar, while his former team-mate Joachim Andersen then cleared a bundled effort off the line.
However, while the home side toiled in attack, Fulham repeatedly sliced through the home defence with some incisive football.
A second Smith Rowe effort, at the end of a sweeping move, was disallowed after a lengthy review from the video assistant referee (VAR) showed the former Arsenal midfielder had strayed marginally offside. Another late Wilson strike was also ruled out after he handled while controlling the ball.
Jimenez also went close with a volley and Alex Iwobi, Reiss Nelson and Andreas Pereira were all superbly denied by Palace and England goalkeeper Henderson.
Smith Rowe stars for fluent Fulham
The previous three meetings between these sides had ended in draws but there was very little prospect of a fourth from the moment Smith Rowe opened the scoring.
Fulham dominated the ball throughout and were always in control against a depleted Palace team that understandably lacked any real fluency or enough positive moments to gain momentum in the contest.
Lacroix’s error just before the interval was ruthlessly punished, but he was far from the only home player to concede possession cheaply or in a dangerous area.
Smith Rowe, who is showing signs of repaying Fulham’s decision to invest so heavily in him during the summer, also deserves some credit.
The 24-year-old was a key component in a an excellent display from the visitors, pressing when needed, calmly retaining possession and linking up well with Pereira and Iwobi before bursting forward to support Jimenez.
