Crystal Palace 0-3 Fulham

A rampant Fulham side claimed all three points at Selhurst Park on Boxing Day.

The main incidents of the first half arrived in a four minute spell, with Tyrick Mitchell shown a straight red card for a foul on Kenny Tete soon after Bobby De Cordova-Reid had headed us in front.

Crystal Palace were then reduced to nine men when James Tomkins was shown a second yellow after the break, giving his side an even bigger mountain to climb.

And the boys pressed on with their two-man advantage, adding a couple more goals to make the game safe through Tim Ream’s vicious volley and a header from the outstanding Aleksandar Mitrović.

All of Fulham’s World Cup contingent were in the matchday squad. Mitrović and Antonee Robinson were passed fit to start alongside Ream and João Palhinha, while Welsh duo Harry Wilson and Dan James were named amongst the substitutes.

Fulham took an early grip on proceedings, looking calm in possession as we looked to create inroads. A scramble at a corner was the closest we came, until Andreas Pereira bent in a brilliant free-kick from a good 30 yards, that needed tipping over by Vicente Guaita.

Palace hadn’t really threatened but a beautifully flighted ball over the top from Joachim Andersen – something we saw plenty of in 2020/21 – almost caught out the Whites backline, but Issa Diop got an important toe on the ball to deny Wilfried Zaha a shooting chance.

A stroke of luck almost handed them the lead in the 26^th minute when Michael Olise’s attempted pass deflected into Jordan Ayew’s path via Robinson’s heel, but the Ghana man cut across the ball and smacked the bar.

Unperturbed, Fulham regrouped and were rewarded with a fine goal. Mitrović, so often the finisher, delivered an absolute peach of a cross after Tete’s interception, plonking it plum on the head of De Cordova-Reid who glanced expertly inside the far post.

To compound a disastrous spell for our hosts, Mitchell was dismissed three minutes later. There was no malice from the left-back as he challenged Tete, but he did get it wrong and won’t have any complaints. Thankfully Tete came through it without any lasting damage.

The Dutchman certainly wasn’t showing any ill effects of the challenge, as demonstrated with his cute ball between lines in the box. Unfortunately, neither De Cordova-Reid or Andreas knew the other was there, and they crowded themselves out.

Still the pressure was on, though, from a corner after Andersen had mopped up, with Mitrović scooping Andreas’ delivery off target from a difficult angle.

Again Fulham were in the ascendency as we kicked off the second half. A rising Palhinha effort was all we had to show for our control, but our cause was helped before the hour mark when Tomkins was the second Eagle to be shown a red, blocking Mitrović’s run to earn a second yellow, having been penalised for fouling the Fulham man in the first half as well.

All that was missing now was another goal, and Andreas thought he had it after controlling De Cordova-Reid’s dink into him in the box, but his powerful drive came back off the upright.

Mitrović then drew an excellent save from Guaita, who got down brilliantly to keep out his connection from De Cordova-Reid’s peach of a cross, before denying our number nine again a minute later after Tete had picked him out.

The big man had been a menace all afternoon, coming close again midway through the second half as he directed Andreas’ corner on target, but Guaita was there once more.

That welcome second did eventually arrive, through a Ream volley. Naturally. Mitrović was involved again, nodding down Andreas’ corner into the American’s path, allowing him to spin and lash a stunning strike into the roof of the net.

VAR recommended that Andrew Madley go and have a look at the monitors as it did brush Mitrović’s arm on its way, but to the delight of the sold out away end 20 yards to his left, Andrew Madley was happy to award the goal.

Andreas should have made it three shortly after when Mitrović found him in space 12 yards out, but Guaita telegraphed his side-footed shot.

Guaita was keeping things respectable, plucking another Mitrović header out of the air in the 78^th minute.

The only thing missing from this performance was a Mitrović goal, and it duly arrived. Tete was fed on the overlap, digging out a cross to the far post where Willian was lurking. His volley across the face bounced up invitingly for Mitro, who was never passing up that opportunity to head home from close range.

Marco Silva used the third goal as an opportunity to make a host of changes, with two of them almost making it four. First, Harry Wilson headed wide, before Tom Cairney saw his chip cleared off the line.

The last action of the game drew another Guaita save as he tipped over Tete’s long ranger – an apt reflection of how the match had gone, as Fulham celebrated a very Merry Christmas in SE25.