Crystal Palace have set a new club record after securing an impressive 3-0 victory against Fulham at Craven Cottage to progress to the FA Cup semi-finals.
The Cottagers were unable to take advantage of their early dominance and that proved costly, as Palace scored twice within the space of just four minutes midway through the first half to put Oliver Glasner‘s men on control.
Eberechi Eze opened the scoring for the Eagles just after the half-hour mark when he cut inside from the left and curled an excellent low strike around Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno in off the far post.
Eze, who scored his first England goal against Latvia earlier this week, then played a huge part in Palace’s second goal, as he raced down the left flank before providing an inch-perfect cross for Ismaila Sarr to glance a header home at the near post.
Eddie Nketiah came off the substitutes’ bench to add a third for Palace 15 minutes from time, running in behind and slotting a right-footed shot through the legs of Leno to send the Eagles to Wembley in emphatic fashion.
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“Unbelievable” Eze helps Palace progress to Wembley
Man of the Match Eze was one of many standout performers for Palace and he has now registered 10 assists for the Eagles in a single season for the first time, as many as in his previous two campaigns combined (four in 2022-23 and six in 2023-24).
Victory for Palace represents their sixth in a row away from home across all competitions which is a new club record, winning all six by an impressive aggregate score of 13-0.
The Eagles have in fact kept more clean sheets than any other Premier League team in 2025 (eight), while they last conceded an away goal in a 3-2 EFL Cup defeat at Arsenal on December 18 last year.
Reacting to Palace’s win over Fulham, Glasner told ITV Sport, “Key number one was to survive the first 20 mins. We were really rusty after three weeks with no competitive game.
“We only had one training before this game with everyone coming back from the national team. The structure wasn’t good and everyone struggled.
“Key number two was Eberechi’s goal. It’s unbelievable – the individual quality. Then we have the confidence and in our structure waiting for the right moments.”
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On Eze, Glasner said: “What I told him I already said to you – it was so important the first goal because we got the belief back, we were really struggling in the beginning. You need something when you’re struggling in the game, some positive actions to get the belief back.
Glasner continued: “It’s not fair to only talk about one player because it was such a great team effort. In the second half there was a lot of pressure because if [Fulham] score one goal it would be a tight game again. It’s a great group and everyone is here to help the team.”
Palace “confident” they can win FA Cup
Asked whether Crystal Palace have what it takes to win the FA Cup, Eze told ITV Sport: “We’re confident in ourselves and we know what we can do, we know what we are capable of. It’s games like today where you show the mentality which will get you further in the tournament.”
“[My goal] was an important goal,” Eze added. “I’m happy to help the team and that’s what I’m here for. We didn’t start the best, it was difficult and there was a lot of defending but eventually we broke them down.
“I want to get the ball in the pockets and cutting inside, thank God it went in today. We took our chances when we got them and we put in a good performance.”
Palace, who are bidding to win their first-ever major trophy, have progressed to Wembley for the second time in four seasons and will discover their FA Cup semi-final opponents on Sunday afternoon.
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