Crystal Palace beat Fulham 1-0 despite 26% possession

Nketiah's goal in the 37th minute, created by Óscar Mingueza, was the only one of the night, and it came on the one chance Crystal Palace needed. Fulham had 74 per cent of possession, 14 shots to Palace's 4, and completed 717 of 789 passes at 90.9 per cent accuracy; Palace had 26 per cent, 4 shots, and completed 207 of 280 at 73.9 per cent. Neither gap decided the game.

What did was shot quality and defending. Fulham put 4 shots on target and Palace's goalkeeper Henderson saved all 4; Palace put 3 on target from their 4 shots and scored once. Palace also cleared 45 times to Fulham's 5, a measure of how much of the night they spent defending their own box rather than building anything in Fulham's.

Fulham sent in 34 crosses to Palace's 2 and won 9 corners to none, volume that never turned into a second shot on target to match their first four. Álvaro Arbeloa made all five of his changes between the 58th and 82nd minutes, Cairney, Castagne and King arriving together at 58, Gonzalo García at 72 and Kevin at 82; none of the five scored or assisted.

Pierre Sage's side took a different route to the same tally of five substitutes: Mitchell and Wharton on together in the 61st, McNeil for the scorer Nketiah in the 71st, then Kamada and Yéremy Pino in the 77th. Lerma and Guessand were both booked for Palace; Berge was Fulham's only yellow card, in the 19th minute.

Attendance was 22,420 at Craven Cottage, with Simon Hooper the referee. Before this game Fulham had won three of their five listed matches, drawing one and losing one, while Crystal Palace had won one of their five and lost three, including a 0-5 defeat away at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Three meetings are listed here, and Fulham have not won any of them: a 2-3 defeat at home in the Premier League in September 2026, a 1-2 defeat at home in a club friendly in August 2026, and a 1-1 draw away in the Premier League in January 2026. Crystal Palace have won two of the three.