There’s a dead rubber mid-table clash coming up on Saturday, 27th of April 2024 at 15:00, but don’t call it that to fans of Fulham and Crystal Palace as there is still bragging rights to play for.
At the time of writing, Fulham occupy 13th on 39 points, and Palace 14th on 30 points with a game in hand. Both teams will be nervously looking down more than up, with Forest and Luton on 25 points in 17th and 18th respectively. Realistically only the South Londoners need to have any concerns, and they will be mild with the lack of quality below them and the FA handing out points reductions like sweets.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
| 12 | Bournemouth | 31 | 11 | 8 | 12 | 45 | 55 | -10 | 41 |
| 13 | Fulham | 32 | 11 | 6 | 15 | 47 | 51 | -4 | 39 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 31 | 7 | 9 | 15 | 36 | 54 | -18 | 30 |
| 15 | Brentford | 32 | 7 | 8 | 17 | 45 | 58 | -13 | 29 |
Last season, the two sides ended up in the same order in 10th and 11th, and with Fulham getting £24.2 million in prize money to Crystal Palaces with £22 million. Their current positions are worth £5 million less, but it would take a good run of results for improvement.
Crystal Palace form
I talked about Fulham’s poor away form in the preview for their trip to West Ham this weekend. The term lack of consistency could not be better defined.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace have struggled for large parts of the season too. Notable scoring only 35 goals so far, which is 4th lowest after Sheffield United (30), and Burnley and Everton (32).
That is surprising considering Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze are considered two of the best young wingers, but problems with injuries haven’t helped consistency.
Olise has managed only 12 games this season, but has still managed 6 goals and 3 assists, which is a phenomenal return from the 22 year old in a struggling team. Eze has played 25 for 6 goals and 4 assists.
What is surprising about Palace is they have had just 10 different goal scorers all season. Jean-Philippe Mateta has 10, Odsonne Édouard 8, and Jordan Ayew 4. Centre back Joachim Andersen has 2, and Schlupp, Mitchell, Lerma, Richards one a piece. In contrast Fulham have had 17, and Sheffield United the second lowest at 11.
At the weekend, fans at Selhurst park were treated to 2 home goals as they lost 4-2 to title chasing Manchester City. A repeat of the feat in the 2-2 draw at the Eithad in December.
But it’s only the 8th time this season they have scored more than 1 goal in a Premier League match; Burnley 3-0 and 0-2, Sheffield Utd 3-2, Brentford 3-1, Everton in a 3-2 home loss, and Wolves 3-2.
Appointing an ex-defender in Austrian Oliver Glasner as manager is an interesting move for a side needing goals, but his first match was the 3-0 victory against Burnley, with a less impressive 2 points and 3 goals in March from 3 games.
But he has some quality players at his disposal if he can get the right tactics. Jean-Philippe Mateta deserves a mention, as his rise is similar to that of Muniz at Fulham in that he’s not a summer signing and neither set the world alight last season.
Frenchman Mateta was signed from German side Mainz in January 2021 on loan, and made permanent a year later. Brazilian Rodrigo Muniz was also signed in 2021 by Fulham.
The 22 year old Muniz spent the 2022/23 season on an unaspiring loan to Middlesbrough and managed 2 goals in the Championship. The more experienced Mateta, at 26, got his game time at the Eagles, but also managed just 2 goals in the 22/23 league season, albeit at a higher level.
Both have seen more success this year in the league, with Mateta 7 goals and 5 assists versus Muniz’s 8 goals and 1 assist.
Palace were at least boosted by a return of Michael Olise off the bench in Saturdays early kick off defeat, his first minutes since his bizarre forced return from injury too soon against Brighton. In that 3rd Feb game losing 3-0 at Half Time, Roy Hodgson unnecessarily risked Olise who was nursing an injury, who limped off shortly after with a serious hamstring injury.
In fairness, perhaps Hodgson was trying to save his job. It didn’t work as he left a few weeks later.
Glasner inherited a squad and will need time to show what he’s capable of, hopefully better than his 40% win rate at Eintracht Frankfurt, although he did win the Europa League against Rangers after beating Barcelona and West Ham on route. He also led them to the Champions League for the first time, and finished second in the group with Tottenham, Sporting and Marseille.
Luckily he has defensive stalwart and captain Joel Ward still plying his trade at 34 in the lineup.
The Eagles added some new faces to their team throughout the transfer window, signing Matheus França from Brazilian club side Flamengo, Adam Wharton from Blackburn, Daniel Munoz from KRC Genk, English goalkeeper Dean Henderson from Premier League giants Manchester United, Rob Holding from Arsenal and Jefferson Lerma from Bournemouth on a free transfer.
Crystal Palace also let go of the likes of Luka Milivojevic, Jack Butland, Wilfred Zaha, and Vicente Guaita who left for Shabab Al-Ahli, Rangers, Galatasaray, and Celta de Vigo respectively on free transfers while Malcom Ebiowei and Luke Plange sealed loan moves to RWDM and Carlisle United.
Palace have a trip to Anfield this weekend (a game I am going to), and I’m hoping for their first goal-scoring blank since the 5-0 loss at Arsenal 20th January (I’d happily take the same result as it’s my son’s first trip there). I’m also interested in watching Olise as suspect Liverpool will have eyes on him being young, proven in the Premier League and England born.
Crystal Palace recent form
WLWDLL
| Sat 24th Feb | Crystal Palace | 3-0 | Burnley |
| Sat 2nd Mar | Tottenham Hotspurs | 3-1 | Crystal Palace |
| Sat 30th Mar | Crystal Palace | 1-1 | Luton Town |
| Tue 2nd April | Nottingham Forest | 1-1 | Crystal Palace |
| Sat 6th April | Crystal Palace | 2-4 | Manchester City |
| Sun 14th April | Liverpool | vs | Crystal Palace |
Fulham Squad and form
I’ve focused on Crystal Palace a lot so far as not covered them before, and only wrote about the cottagers last week in depth.
Fulham added quite several big names to their ranks during the transfer window. Signing the likes of Nigerian attacking midfielder Alex Iwobi from Everton, Calvin Bassey joined from Ajax Amsterdam in Netherlands. Former Wolves frontman Raul Jimenez ,Timothy Castagne from Leicester City while Adama Traore joined from Wolves on a free transfer.
Fulham also got several players on loan such as Fode Ballo-Toure from Seria A side AC Milan, Kevin Mbabu from Servette FC in the Swiss League, Paulo Gazzaniga from Girona in La Liga, Joe Bryan from OGC Nice in French Ligue 1, Ivan Cavaleiro from Alanyaspor in Turkish League, Terence Kongolo from Le Havre FC in French Ligue 1 and Armando Broja from Chelsea.
Departures from Craven Cottage included Aleksandar Mitrovic, an integral member of their squad who was signed by one of the money merchants of the Saudi Pro League Al Ahli while also having to return players whose loan contracts had expired such as Cedric Soares from Arsenal FC, and Layvin Kurzawa from Paris SG amongst a few others.
As mentioned last week, Rodrigo Muniz up front is the in-form player with Andreas Pereira pulling the strings. Any side with Carlos Vinícius, Tom Cairney, Harry Wilson and João Palhinha will create chances.
Fulham recent form
WLWDLL
| Sat 2nd Mar | Fulham | 3-0 | Brighton |
| Sat 9th Mar | Wolves | 2-1 | Fulham |
| Sat 16th Mar | Fulham | 3-0 | Spurs |
| Sat 30th Mar | Sheff Utd | 3-3 | Fulham |
| Tue 2nd April | Nottingham Forest | 3-1 | Fulham |
| Sat 6th April | Fulham | 0-1 | Newcastle |
| Sun 14th April | West Ham | vs | Fulham |
Past Meetings
Head-to-head statistics tell us that Fulham and Crystal Palace have locked horns on 10 occasions in the past. The Cottagers have won 3 (scoring 15 goals) while The Eagles have also won 3 (scoring 12 goals) with 4 draws between them.
Earlier in the season it was a dull 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park. This same stadium fixture last season was also a draw, but a more entertaining as they shared 4 goals for 2-2 thriller.
Match tickets
The epic match at the 25,700-capacity Craven Cottage in Fulham kicks off on Saturday, 27th of April 2024 at 15:00 GMT.
Getting Fulham vs Crystal Palace United tickets could take a lot of work given the standard of this game and the close proximity of the clubs. Hence, you are advised to search ticket reselling sites should they be expectedly sold out on each club’s channels.
Team news
Line-ups
The only recent injury absentee for Fulham was Raul Jimenez (hamstring) but he got a very late run for the last minutes against Newcastle. But with games coming thick and fast that could easily change, plus a bit of squad rotation is to be expected.
Manager: Marco Silva
Fulham: Leno, Robinson, Bassey, Adarabioyo, Castagne, Reed, Lukic, Iwobi, Pereira, Wilson, Muniz
The Eagles are not so lucky. They have a long list of injured players including first choice goalie Sam Johnstone (arm) who’s out for the season, key defender Marc Guehi (knee), and Rob Holding (ankle), Chris Richards (knock), Matheus Franca (groin), Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (hamstring), and Cheick Doucouré (Achilles tendon).
Manager: Oliver Glasner
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Ward, Andersen, Richards, Munoz, Wharton, Lerma, Mitchell, Ayew, Eze, Mateta
Prediction
It’s difficult to predict so early on when form and injuries can change things so easily. Fulham’s home form is pretty epic, but if Olise stays fit can easily see him and Mateta inspiring Palace. On current form I would plump for a 2-1 home win, but I’m feeling fortunes will shift before these sides meet. So I’m going for the repeat of last season.
Fulham 2-2 Crystal Palace
Further Reading
