The lowdown on Fulham 0 Crystal Palace 2 – Eze makes Craven Cottage his playground in comfortable away victory

Crystal Palace enjoyed arguably their most comfortable away victory of the season, overcoming a below-par Fulham outfit at Craven Cottage to secure a 2-0 win.

Here is Adam Sells’ lowdown on the match.

THE LINE-UPS

Fulham: Leno, Castagne (Diop 80), Bassey, Andersen, Robinson, Berge (Cairney 58) (Willian 80), Lukic, Traore, Smith Rowe (Pereira 58), Iwobi (Muniz 80), Jimenez. Subs not used: Benda, Jorge Cuenca, Reed, Sessegnon.

Palace: Henderson, Munoz, Richards, Lacroix, Guehi, Mitchell, Hughes (Devenny 90), Lerma (Wharton 81), Sarr (Kamada 75), Eze (Chilwell 90), Mateta. Subs not used: Turner, Kporha, Clyne, Esse, Nketiah.

SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME

The Eagles returned from west London with a well-deserved three points – recording a fourth successive away victory in the Premier League for the first time.

On the subject of records, it was the club’s fifth successive 2-0 away win in all competitions and sixth successive clean sheet away from home. It is now nine games on the road without defeat.

Fulham started slightly better, without ever really threatening Dean Henderson’s goal but after the first quarter, there was only going to be one winner.

Former Palace central defender Joachim Andersen headed into his own net eight minutes before the break from a Will Hughes corner.

Daniel Munoz smashed home a second midway through the second half and Oliver Glasner’s men eased to victory without any real scares.

The Austrian coach’s opposite number Marco Silva was clearly unhappy with the performance of referee Rob Jones, with some justification after a few contentious fouls went unpunished in the opening period. But this was something of a smokescreen, with none of the moments affecting the outcome of the game. 

The home side did not manage to register a single shot on target which, in truth, will have been of greater concern.

TACTICAL APPROACH

Oliver Glasner set his stall out with his customary 3-4-2-1 formation. Eberechi Eze was restored to the starting line-up and the England international did not disappoint with his silky skills and graceful style, making the pitch look like his playground.

STAR MAN

Tyrick Mitchell. Kept the dangerous Adama Traore under lock and key throughout in the characteristic fashion that has become his trademark. After a huge amount of unjustified criticism of late, the wing-back had a few eating their words on Saturday night.

BEST MOMENT

The Munoz goal. The Colombian emphatically finished the ball past Bernd Leno into the roof of the net from a tight angle after a flowing move in which Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta excelled.

MOAN OF THE MATCH

Though all connected with Fulham were unhappy with almost every aspect of the day, by contrast there was little to moan about from a Palace perspective.

When using the term ‘contrast,’ the wider ‘moan’ for those in SE25 is the home form versus that away from South London.

The Eagles’ away form is Champions League, while the two home wins all season at Selhurst Park has Palace in the bottom five.

TALKING POINTS DOWN THE PUB

Why is there such a difference between the form away from home and why can Palace not replicate it on their own turf?

There are two factors that stick out. The term that ‘you play as well as the opposition let you’ is very apt.

The approach of most visiting teams, sitting deeper on their travels, versus a more ‘front-footed’ style at home Palace have found hard to undo.

The answer may well be in the type of attacking personnel within the squad. The lack of quick players, who can receive the ball in tight areas and have a trick to unlock well-drilled defensive units, is the biggest miss. 

Palace, and in particular Ismaila Sarr, have fared well against teams with a high defensive line. Aston Villa up next have generally employed such an approach, so it will be interesting to see if it will suit Glasner’s men.

WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY

“All the credit to the players. They did very well today and they were very solid. They defended well and did a great job. We waited for situations and stayed patient. We decided the game with an amazing goal from Daniel Munoz. I’m really pleased with the win and the performance today.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD