Before Brighton & Hove Albion, before Brentford there was Crystal Palace; a middling club, coached and run well, good at trading, able to established themselves in the Premier League against the odds. But competence does not get the juices flowing. The complaint of Palace fans has been that their modern era has lacked glamour moments and proper opportunities to dream.
Well, who is complaining now? At Craven Cottage, on an almost summer’s day, those supporters were bouncing and clapping and swishing their flags. They are going to Wembley — and have a team who look capable, on the right day, of beating anyone, anywhere.
Palace went to the FA Cup final under Alan Pardew but it feels there is a different potentiality to Oliver Glasner’s side. Its blend of tactical excellence and individual brilliance is a potent mix. Its talents — Eberechi Eze, Ismaïla Sarr, Adam Wharton and others — are fit for any stage.
Whoever gets Palace in the semi-finals is in for a hell of a game. Since going out of the Carabao Cup at the Emirates in December, their away record is played seven, won six, with a for/against goals ledger of 13-0. This evisceration was surgical to the point of cruelty, given Fulham and the Cottage make such lovely hosts. It featured defensive organisation, strategic counterattacking and the caviar Eze provides.
Eze scored Palace’s first and created their second in a first half in which Fulham made the running and Palace did the scoring. The second half was similar, victory sealed with the scalpel cut of Eddie Nketiah’s breakaway goal.
Glasner had replaced Wharton and Jean-Philippe Mateta with Daichi Kamada and Nketiah. Soon after Palace countered with Kamada providing a through-ball and Nketiah timing the perfect run to stay onside, bear in on Bernd Leno, give the goalkeeper the eyes and roll a finish through his legs.
Such quick payback for his rejig completed Glasner’s perfect day. He was in sprightly form afterwards, saying he did not want to talk about winning the cup but proving loquacious about Wembley. He has been three times. Once was to see Eze score his first England goal, versus Latvia on Monday, and once was for England’s friendly against Belgium last year. The other time? It was to drop his daughter off at a Taylor Swift concert.
Impressions of Wembley? “Big,” Glasner said. “I went by Tube, did the Wembley walk … Wembley Way. You can see the arch. It was great.”
Marco Silva was a brooding contrast. He had two very understandable frustrations — that Fulham lacked decisiveness in both boxes, and that Wharton was not sent off for a second yellow card when he flicked a kick at Rodrigo Muniz when the ball was gone.
The decision was hard to fathom and may well have sparked a very different outcome, given it was 0-0 at the time. But Silva could have made other decisions himself: his team were well organised and motivated but the emphasis was on athleticism rather than flair. Their chances of breaking down Palace would have certainly increased had he started Emile Smith Rowe rather than using him from the bench.
The sun was out and blood was up. Playing for an old prize, at this old stadium, old rivals played with throwback physicality. The opening stages were like fairground dodgems: no space and all collisions. There was big Calvin Bassey, smashing Marc Guéhi at a corner, Maxence Lacroix flattening people, Antonee Robinson thumping into Sarr and Wharton, theoretically the artist amid the mayhem, scything Willian to earn a yellow card.
The first opportunity, fittingly, was not so much created but blasted into being. Muniz barged Guéhi aside and bumped away two covering defenders to go clear on Dean Henderson but he could not open his body enough to curl his shot inside the far post.
Fulham pushed, going wide, or to Willian in the pockets, or directly to Muniz. But they could not convert from a series of corners and when Bassey cut back for Andreas Pereira the Brazilian — given his technical levels — should have done better than yank the shot wide.
Palace had sat, their back three more a five, absorbing their hosts and waiting for the right time to counter. Glasner was unhappy about that period, suggesting his team were passive and “rusty”, but when Fulham’s energy levels dropped Palace roared into the game.
Fulham’s warning came when Palace’s first spell of concerted pressure ended with Jefferson Lerma taking the ball on the volley and cutting his foot under it to arc it on to the bar from 25 yards out. Then came Eze.
Palace switched play and Tyrick Mitchell fed him early, allowing Eze that little bit of time and space to work with, circumstances in which he is deadly. He had barely been on the ball by this point but is such a dynamic, intelligent and refined a player and let Sasa Lukic arrive before jagging the other way to step past him on the outside. From 20 yards, striking the ball with force and beautiful geometry, he arced a low shot past Leno. “Amazing goal,” Glasner said.
Palace fans had barely stopped waving their flags when there was a second goal and more Eze magic to feast on. This time, Eze played his way past Timothy Castagne on the left touchline and faced up Joachim Andersen near the corner flag, then beat him on his outside. Uncharacteristically using his left foot, he sent the most perfect of crosses to the near post for Sarr to glance a superb header past Leno.
Fulham returned to having plenty possession but few ideas of how to cut through Palace. Their most spectacular moment was a ridiculous piece of writhing by Muniz when he was tripped by Chris Richards.
Silva finally introduced Smith Rowe and threw that eternal wildcard, Adama Traoré, into the mix. This gave Fulham a burst of momentum but Henderson stretched well to tip away Willian’s fine, curling shot.
Then came Glasner’s substitutions and the third Palace goal. Fulham fans started leaving and the Palace lot sang about going to Wembley. Que sera sera.
Fulham (4-2-3-1): B Leno 5 — T Castagne 5, J Andersen 6, C Bassey 6, A Robinson 6 (R Sessegnon 71min) — S Lukic 5 (A Traoré 63, 6), S Berge 6 — A Iwobi 6 (T Cairney 82), A Pereira 5 (E Smith Rowe 63, 6), Willian 7 (R Jiménez 71) — R Muniz 6.
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1): D Henderson 7 — C Richards 6, M Lacroix 7, M Guéhi 6 — D Muñoz 7 (N Clyne 87), A Wharton 7 (D Kamada 70, 6), J Lerma 8, T Mitchell 7 — I Sarr 8 (J Devenny 87), E Eze 9 (M França 90)— JP Mateta 5 (E Nketiah 70, 6). Booked Wharton, Richards, Lacroix, Clyne.
Referee D England. Attendance 26,222.
