Fulham at Crystal Palace

Fulham starts off the new year at Crystal Palace on Thursday. Kickoff is at 12:30pm EST on Peacock.

The schedule was put together a little oddly this year. This is Fulham's 19th match of the season, so you would think it would be against Liverpool - the only team Fulham hasn't played yet, but instead it is against Palace who Fulham played just a few weeks ago. Fulham will face Liverpool next weekend, but for some reason every team in the league is playing someone they already faced before playing the remaining team that they haven't played yet.

Fulham played Palace three times in 2025, all at Craven Cottage, and all solid wins for Palace with an aggregate score of 1 for Fulham and 7 for Palace. Things have been better for Fulham over at Selhurst Park, so hopefully with 2025 behind Fulham they can turn around recent results against Palace.

Palace has been in a rut recently, losing three in a row in the league while Fulham won three in a row. This has put the two even on points and only separated by a 2 goal difference. In fact, their last win in the league was against... Fulham. That win briefly put Palace in the Champions League spots. If Fulham manage to win on New Years Day, they will jump up to 7th place - at least until Sunderland and Brentford complete their matches later in the day.

However, I do not think that Fulham will win. Fulham has eked out wins against lower table teams while Iwobi, Chukwueze, and Bassey have been out. Palace has been struggling, but I think they will prove to be far tougher for Fulham than West Ham, Forest, or Burnley. I expect another late winner from Palace that feels a little too familiar.

 

I'm feeling optimistic about tomorrow's game for some reason. Perhaps it's because one of the worst years of my 55 will have finally ended.

The locker room will be motivated given our recent losses to Palace. I hope Silva makes a change to the starting 11 (giving both King and ESR a start), but I don't expect him to. I do think we will play better than in the last few Prem games and will grab at least a point.

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

Looking forward to getting to the Amsterdam tavern for this one. This seems more fun than going out for new years eve.

 

Not seeing Josh King anywhere in the game day squad, I’m suddenly not as optimistic. I hope he’s not hurt.

 

Fulham did better out there today than I expected and a draw was probably a fair result.

The way that Fulham gave up that one goal was really disappointing. A bit of play acting that backfired followed by terrible defending - allowing Mateta unmarked in the box is a bad idea. That was an unfortunate way to put an end to Fulham's run of clean sheets.

Losting Tete was a blow too because Castagne looked terrible for much of the match - and Palace took advantage. It seemed like every time Castagne got the ball they were all over him to pressure a mistake. I wish he could have gotten the winning score but he just didn't get his shot outside the reach of the keeper.

Castagne was a sub that didn't shine, but there were a number of positives from the other subs. Cairney, of course, was fantastic with an absolute classic Cairney finish. I'm so glad he gave us another like that this season and he clearly enjoyed it too. I also got a kick out of Henderson and Cairney talking about his shot after the final whistle blew. They both played well. I also thought Reed was impressive. He was putting in some dangerous balls and was a lot more productive than I expected.

Either team could have walked away a winner from this one, so it is a little disappointing that Fulham couldn't get three points, but I'll be happy with a draw.

 

Given the players we are missing, a very good result, and it could have been even better. I hope King isn’t badly hurt or ill.

TC needs to stick around after he hangs up the boots and become part of the coaching staff at the club. His vision and understanding of the game are superb.

A bit of progress in Kevin’s play—by no means was he excellent, but he showed more confidence and consequently quickness.

I agree, losing Tete was a bad blow, and if it’s a long-term injury, it will cost us.

Does Marco add a right back to his shopping list this month?