Smith Rowe shines as Fulham outclass 10-man Palace

LONDON: Fulham cruised to a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in the Premier League on Saturday with goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Harry Wilson while the home side were reduced to 10 men when Daichi Kamada saw red for a dangerous tackle.

Fulham’s victory helped Marco Silva’s side to provisionally move up to sixth in the standings with 18 points while Palace are 17th, one point above the relegation zone.

Palace were without several injured players and Oliver Glasner’s side struggled to test Fulham, with Jean-Philippe Mateta feeding on scraps while Wilson made an impact off the bench for the visitors for the second time in five days.

“Great three points for us, great team performance, mature performance and with the quality that we have been playing so far this season,” Silva said.

“The only thing that we probably should not be 100% pleased with is so many chances that we created and we didn’t score.”

Fulham dominated possession early on and although their midfielders found plenty of space to operate in and create chances, they were wasteful in front of goal while Dean Henderson made two reflex saves to deny the visitors.

Smith Rowe had a golden opportunity to give Fulham the lead when they won the ball back high up the pitch but defender Maxence Lacroix sprinted across and put in a sliding challenge, touching the ball first before leaving the forward in a heap.

Palace finally grew into the game and nearly scored at the end of the first half when Mateta beat keeper Bernd Leno to a cross and directed a header on target but Joachim Andersen cleared the ball off the line.

Smith Rowe scores

However, Smith Rowe’s pressing forced an error from Lacroix before the former Arsenal midfielder was put through on goal by Raul Jimenez, with the 24-year-old pulling the trigger with his left foot for the ball to nestle in the bottom corner.

Fulham thought they had doubled their lead six minutes into the second half with a sublime counterattack that carved Palace open but Smith Rowe’s finish was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check.

Palace’s afternoon went from bad to worse in the 76th minute when Kamada was sent off for lunging into a studs-up tackle on Kenny Tete, making contact with the right back’s shin to give the referee no other option but to brandish a red card.

Fulham immediately took advantage with Palace down to 10 men when Alex Iwobi put Wilson through on goal and he beat Henderson to make it 2-0 with his third goal in two games.

Wilson, who grabbed a late brace in Monday’s 2-1 win over Brentford, had the ball in the back of the net once again in stoppage time when he controlled a cross and fired home but it was ruled out by VAR for a handball from the Welsh winger.

“Fulham were the better team. They were very aggressive, played very direct with a lot of pace in their attacking,” Glasner said.

“We made too many mistakes. When we had situations maybe to come back into the game, we didn’t take them. Then the red card… I think it’s the first game this season, maybe, where we deserved to lose the game.”