Fulham super-sub Harry Wilson capped a brilliant week for him and the club by coming on to seal a 2-0 win over injury-hit Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, a result which moves the Cottagers up to sixth in the Premier League and level on points with fourth-placed Chelsea.
Wilson was Fulham’s hero on Monday Night Football when he struck twice in injury-time to turn it around against local rivals Brentford and, despite being again omitted from the starting XI, he had his say once more, finishing neatly from Alex Iwobi’s super pass through the lines just one minute and six seconds after coming on.
He thought he had made it a double double but his 94th-minute ‘second’ was ruled out by VAR for handball in the build-up.
By the time Wilson arrived on the scene, Palace, down to 10 players following Daichi Kamada’s red card for a high, reckless tackle on Kenny Tete with 14 minutes to play, were already up against it, having fallen behind when Emile Smith Rowe forced an error from Maxence Lacroix and shot Raul Jimenez’s pass beyond Dean Henderson on the stroke of half-time.
Missing a string of first-team regulars to injury, most notably chief creator Eberechi Eze, Palace struggled to contain Fulham throughout. A makeshift central midfield pairing of Marc Guehi and 21-year-old debutant Justin Devenny summed up how thin their squad has become.
Oliver Glasner will be relieved to have the international break to recover some injured players – although with the Eagles just a point above the relegation zone they will have to hit the ground running when the Premier League resumes.
It is a very different feeling in the Fulham camp right now, though. Marco Silva’s visitors had gone winless through October but back-to-back London derby victories inside a week have the Cottagers looking up the table. And with Smith Rowe, Iwobi and Reiss Nelson impressing on the ball, their fans can dream of exciting days ahead.
The trio repeatedly combined through the first 45 to threaten Henderson’s goal before, for the second time in the half, Fulham forced an error from a Palace defender playing out from the back. Smith Rowe – who had carved open a series of chances – was clinical when his team-mates had not been.
The former Arsenal forward is rejuvenated at Fulham. It is a thrill to watch him fit and in full flow after so long on the sidelines at the Emirates and he was celebrating a ‘second’ soon after the break when he converted a sweeping Fulham counter involving Nelson and Iwobi, before the narrowest of offside calls was made by VAR.
It was Fulham rather than Palace galvanised by that decision, with Henderson forced to save brilliantly from Andreas Pereira and tip another effort from the Brazilian over before Nelson fired another good sight at goal off target.
Palace had been inches away just before Smith Rowe’s opener, when former Selhurst favourite Joachim Andersen had to clear Jean-Philippe Mateta’s header off the line, but if fine margins were at play in that moment, across the 90 minutes this was the story of a Fulham side in the ascendency and Palace struggling with shortages in their squad.
