Palace Held To Share Of The Spoils By Fulham

A stalemate in South London to see out the month of September and while the visitors arguably had the better chances, but Roy Hodgson and his men have kept the points column ticking over.

MATCH INFORMATION

• 3pm – 23rd September 2023
• Crystal Palace 0-0 Fulham
• Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 4 Rob HOLDING, 17 Nathaniel CLYNE, 23 Malcolm EBIOWEI, 26 Chris RICHARDS, 30 Dean HENDERSON, 31 Remi MATTHEWS, 44 Jairo RIEDEWALD

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 1 Marek RODAK, 3 Calvin BASSEY, 10 Tom CAIRNEY, 12 Fode Ballo-Toure, 19 Rodrigo MUNIZ, 35 Tyrese FRANCOIS

TEB VERDICT

This was a tightly contested game in which we probably expected to not see all players finish the game with the ease the referee was handing our yellow cards. However, that was not the case and both sides will probably be happy to take a point even though the visitors created the better chances.

The main difference between the two sides was the bench, and the strength of the away substitutes threatened to see Fulham head back across the Thames with the points. That was not the case and the game was well contested throughout with not much to take from the two sides.

The Eagles are crying out for so creativity offensively to support Eze, and the fact that Matheus Franca is back in training is a bonus, even if we don’t know when he may be back. The setback for Michael Olise is a little more worrying as he will be the key returning to this side as we know exactly what we can do. Franca is very much an unknown even if it will be exciting to find out.

POST GAME QUOTES

ROY HODGSON

“We all understand that to have a really strong team, you need a really strong bench, where the people there are, in many people’s eyes, as good as those that are starting. We will be in that position, but first we have to recover four players and four players in a squad that is not 30-players strong is a lot to be missing. The starting XI was good and more than capable of winning it but we lack a bit of what they had in the last 20 minutes, bringing players on.”

“I thought the referee judged the incidents in and around the penalty area well. I must be one of those rare people where after you get given a soft penalty and people say afterwards ‘that wasn’t a penalty’ – as happened to us last week – I think if I make a fuss about that one day that might come back to haunt me. To some extent, what comes around goes around. I prefer to win games not on soft penalties and ludicrous handball decisions.”

MARCO SILVA

“Great effort from the boys, good spirit and organisation. Overall, I think we deserved the three points. We created most chances to win. Clearest chances, especially in the first half. Andreas. We created enough. We showed quality, pushed them back and controlled the game. Good focus and reaction when we lost the ball to control players like Mateta and Edouard when they changed to 4-4-2. Eze is always a threat, a top, top player. Overall, if someone has to win the game and it should be Fulham because we were the best team on the pitch.”

MATCH STATISTICS

POSITION IN THE TABLE (at the final whistle)

UPCOMING FIXTURES

26/09/23 Manchester United (a) – EFL Cup 8pm

30/09/23 Manchester United (a) – Premier League 3pm

07/10/23 Nottingham Forest (h) – Premier League 5.30pm