Fulham 0 Crystal Palace 2 – The Harsh Realities Of Life Back in The Big Time

Yesterday, at a full to capacity Craven Cottage, Fulham made a welcome return to the Premier League, unfortunately, our visitors spoilt the party.

After dominating large parts of the game Fulham found that when it comes to life in the top-flight, it’s all about taking your chances.

With Slavisa Jokanovic fielding seven of the plethora of summer signings, Fulham played some creative football utilising their slick passing and movement to engineer some chances on goal. But Wayne Hennessey, in the Palace goal, was in inspired form thwarting Aleksandar Mitrovic on two occasions and Cyrus Christie on another.

Palace, having been on the ropes, went into the break a goal to the good after a ball from Patrick van Aanholt found Jeffrey Schlupp who smashed the ball past Fabri.

The second half saw Fulham try to get back on level terms, but they were always susceptible to the counter-attack.

After Fulham had a penalty appeal turned down, Palace should have doubled their lead but Fabri somehow kept out Zaha’s shot with his legs.

But, that second goal was to come when Zaha collected a ball from Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s to net.

With just eleven minutes to play, Fulham couldn’t get back into the match and it was Palace that took the three points on offer.

Next up for Fulham, in the Premier League, is a trip to Wembley, next weekend, to take on Tottenham Hotspur.

Fulham				Crystal Palace
				Schlupp (41), Zaha (79)
Fabri				Hennessey
Christie				Wan-Bissaka
Chambers				Tomkins
Le Marchand				Sakho
Bryan			71	van Aanholt			92
Cairney				Townsend			88
McDonald				Milivojevic
Seri			82	McArthur
Schürrle			61	Schlupp
Mitrovic				Benteke			83
Sessegnon				Zaha
Substitutes
Kebano				Ward
Johansen			82	Kouyate			88
Vietto			71	Sørloth			83
Fosu-Mensah				Souaré			92
Rico				Guaita
Cisse				Kelly
Kamara			61	Riedewald

Game Statistics
15	Goal attempts	10
6	On Target	9
5	Corners	5
9	Fouls	11
1	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
66	%	34