The lowdown on Crystal Palace 0 Fulham 2 – Contrast in senior attacking options telling as injuries highlight squad problems

Injury–ravaged Crystal Palace suffered their fourth Premier League defeat of the season after a 2-0 loss at home to Fulham on Saturday afternoon.

Croydon’s Emile Smith Rowe and substitute Harry Wilson secured all three points for Marco Silva’s side.

Here is Edmund Brack’s lowdown from Selhurst Park:

THE LINE-UPS

Palace: Henderson, Munoz [Kporha 89], Clyne [Doucoure 62], Lacroix, Chalobah, Mitchell, Devenny [Schlupp 74], Guehi, Sarr [Agbinone 88], Kamada, Mateta.

Subs: Turner, Matthews, Ward, Richards, Marsh.

Fulham: Leno, Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson, Berge, Pereira [Cairney 83], Nelson [Wilson 82], Smith Rowe [Reed 89], Iwobi [Adama 89], Jimenez [Muniz 75].

Subs: Benda, Castagne, Diop, Sessegnon.

SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME

A pieced-together Palace side held their own in the first half, but Marco Silva’s side had the better chances.

Reiss Nelson should have done better in the 13th minute, breaking through the Palace defence and firing a shot straight at Dean Henderson.

Maxence Lacroix was also called into action midway through the half when Smith Rowe found himself with just Henderson to beat inside the penalty area – the French centre-back producing a crunching challenge to stop the attacker from unleashing an effort.

Fulham had another opportunity to take the lead before half-time when Reiss Nelson chipped a cross to Alex Iwobi at the back post. The former Everton player forced a good save from Henderson, who tipped the effort over the crossbar.

Jean-Philippe Mateta had Palace’s best chance of the first half, meeting Ismaila Sarr’s cross with his head. However, ex-Eagles defender Joachim Andersen cleared the ball off the line.

Fulham eventually made Palace pay on the stroke of half–time when Lacroix gave away possession in his own half and Raul Jiminez played through Smith Rowe to open the scoring.

Silva’s side continued to dominate the start of the second half, with Smith Rowe having a goal ruled out for offside and Henderson being forced into two smart saves to deny Andreas Pereira in quick succession.

Palace were reduced to 10 players with 14 minutes of normal time remaining when Daichi Kamada was issued with a straight red card for a foul on Kenny Tete.

Fulham wrapped up all three points in the 83rd minute when Iwobi played through Wilson to score.

TACTICAL APPROACH

Devenny, 21, made his first Premier League start alongside Marc Guehi in the middle of the pitch.

Guehi had played in a central role under Glasner before, starting as a midfielder in the 5-0 win over Aston Villa at the end of last season.

Nathaniel Clyne started at left centre-back, and the Chelsea loanee moved to the right, with Lacroix in the middle.

Glasner changed formation at the start of the second half. Daniel Munoz moved forward to play as the right-sided 10 and Kamada dropped into a deeper role alongside Devenny.

Palace switched between formations at the end of the match after Kamada was sent off, but were unable to find a formula to get back into the game.

BEST MOMENT

A debut for Devenny. The Northern Irish youngster very much held his own on the Premier League stage.

The visitors clearly had the better quality and rhythm in the centre of the pitch, but when presented with the ball or an opportunity to win a tackle, he took it.

Devenny also showed his quality in his left foot, whipping a pinpoint free-kick into Mateta to head over.

He won 100 per cent of his tackles and only lost possession once.

STAR MAN

Trevoh Chalobah. The Chelsea loanee once again impressed.

He completed six interceptions and made seven clearances – the most of any Palace defender.

A TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB

Contrast in the squads. 

The main difference between being a good Premier League side and a team that is going to struggle at the wrong end is strength in depth.

Silva has the ability to call upon four variations of senior attackers from his bench at Selhurst Park, with Ryan Sessegnon, Harry Wilson, Adama Traore and Rodrigo Muniz ready to be introduced.

With Eberechi Eze and Eddie Nketiah injured, Glasner only had Jeffrey Schlupp as an option with experience to come on and change the game.

Palace’s lack of senior forward options off the bench to change the game has seriously hindered their first half of the season, and Fulham showed the strength of having alternative attackers in their win on Saturday.

WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY

“Today it is easy to sum up the game – Fulham were the better team.

“They were very aggressive and were very direct.

“There is a lot of pace in their attack. We made too many easy mistakes. We had some situations to come back into the game and we didn’t take them.

“The red card was from a mistake we made. We had the ball and lost it with inaccurate passing. We made a tackle in their half, which saw a red card.

“Being 1-0 down and playing against a very good Fulham side, it was the first game this season where we deserved to lose the game.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD