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Fulham are preparing to visit Crystal Palace with renewed confidence after a dramatic late win in another London derby against Brentford.
Marco Silva’s men were trailing heading into stoppage time at Craven Cottage on Monday, only for a sensational Harry Wilson double to snatch a 2-1 victory.
That was a first win in four in the Premier League for Fulham, although their performances might have merited more points.
Alex Iwobi certainly believes so, explaining: “It’s a big lift because we feel like our performances recently deserved a lot more, in terms of getting points and results.
“And the way we did it, against Brentford, we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game, a derby as well… To win it in the manner we did has definitely given us a confidence boost going into another London derby against Palace.”
Only one thing the boys were talking about today. pic.twitter.com/wSiCwQxOJU
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) November 5, 2024
Palace have themselves been given a big lift in the past couple of weeks, following their belated first league win of the season against Tottenham with an EFL Cup defeat of Aston Villa and a controversial draw at Wolves.
The Eagles are still only a place above the relegation zone, and Iwobi is hoping Fulham can check their progress.
“We know it’s not going to be easy,” he said. “Another derby, it’s never easy at their stadium.
“We know it’s always tough to go and play there, but we’re going to analyse, see their weaknesses. It’s not easy, but we’ll analyse and see what we can do.
“They’ve only had one win this season – hopefully it remains that way against us and we’ll get the result we want.”
Will Hughes had a message for the Palace fans ahead of their return to Selhurst Park: “Thanks for sticking with us, as usual.
“It’s not been the best of starts for us in the league, but hopefully they can see, especially over the last few games, that we’re turning a corner, not only results wise but the intensity we’re playing with.
“We were so difficult to play against at the end of last season with our intensity, and I think we’ve got that bit of mojo back. Hopefully, we can keep pushing on.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Crystal Palace – Jean-Philippe Mateta
Goals have been hard to come by for Palace this season – especially at Selhurst Park.
Oliver Glasner’s side have netted a league-low three times at home, but all of those have been scored by Mateta, continuing his strong form from the end of last season. He has 14 goals in his past 12 home league games for Palace.
They will again rely heavily on the French striker, with Eberechi Eze injured and fellow forward Eddie Nketiah struggling for form. New signing Nketiah has attempted 17 shots without scoring, the most in the Premier League this season.
Fulham – Harry Wilson
There is increased competition in the wide areas for Fulham this season, with Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson signed and battling with Iwobi, Adama Traore and Wilson for minutes.
But if Wilson cannot get his opportunity after sensationally stealing a win against Brentford last time out, he might wonder if he will ever return to the XI, still waiting for his first league start of the season.
His cutting edge was exactly what Fulham had previously been missing, attempting against Brentford 26 shots – their most in the Premier League for over 10 years – but requiring that late show to come away with the points.
Siri, define ‘impact’
82′ Subbed on
90+2′ scores the equaliser
90+7′ scores the winnerHarry Wilson, take a bow! #FULBRE pic.twitter.com/WYZVtsl93T
— Premier League (@premierleague) November 4, 2024
MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW
Following their comeback against Brentford, Fulham are unbeaten in six Premier League London derbies – their longest run since 2006-07 – and also their past five matches against Palace.
Yet four of those clashes with the Eagles have ended all square, including each of the last three.
Palace will hope for more as they look to move clear of the bottom three, but they have not won consecutive league derbies since April 2017 and were victors in their last capital clash against Spurs.
Perhaps 0-0 is therefore the most likely scoreline. Fulham have kept three consecutive clean sheets at Selhurst Park, and their five away matches in the league this season have seen only 11 goals scored.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Crystal Palace – 37.5%
Draw – 26.3%
Fulham – 36.2%