Following the late show at Villa Park last weekend, Roy Hodgson returns to the dugout with the aim of steering the Eagles back to winning ways with the hope that first away defeat of the season was just a glitch.
MATCH INFORMATION
- 3pm – 23rd September 2023
- Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU
PREVIOUS MEETING
It was not pretty viewing last December as the visitors took the lead through Bobby De Cordova-Reid after half an hour, and shortly after Tyrick Mitchell received a straight red card for what was deemed a reckless tackle on the half way line. The Eagles were two players down soon into the second half as James Tomkins received a second yellow card. Fulham went on to double their lead courtesy of Tim Ream with twenty minutes left to play before Aleksandar Mitrovic rubbed salt into the wounds with a late third.
WHO SCORED MAN OF THE MATCH – Aleksandar MITROVIC (9.2)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Paul Tierney. Assistants: Neil Davies, Scott Ledger. Fourth official: Tom Bramall. VAR: Stuart Attwell. Assistant VAR: Ian Hussin
TEAM NEWS
PALACE – Michael Olise appears to have had a setback in his bid to return to action while Matheus Franca expected to join first team training soon. Jefferson Lerma is expected to continue to miss out thanks to a hamstring injury, as will James Tomkins who is struggling with a calf problem. Marc Guehi and Jordan Ayew may be fit to return.
FULHAM – Oluwatosin Adarabioyo and Antonee Robinson will both miss the game through injury while Sasa Lukic is a doubt.
DISCIPLINARY RECORD
RED CARDS – Tim Ream (1), Calvin Bassey (1)
YELLOW CARDS (2+) – Kenny Tete (2), Joel Ward (2), Issa Diop (2)
FORM GUIDE
Last FIVE meetings between the two sides;
- 20/05/23 Fulham 2-2 Palace
- 26/12/22 Palace 0-3 Fulham
- 28/02/21 Palace 0-0 Fulham
- 24/10/20 Fulham 1-2 Palace
- 02/02/19 Palace 2-0 Fulham
Last FIVE results for Palace:
- 16/09/23 Villa 3-1 Palace
- 03/09/23 Palace 3-2 Wolves
- 29/08/23 Plymouth 2-4 Palace
- 26/08/23 Brentford 1-1 Palace
- 21/08/23 Palace 0-1 Arsenal
Last FIVE results for Fulham;
- 16/09/23 Fulham 1-0 Luton
- 02/09/23 Manchester City 5-1 Fulham
- 29/08/23 Fulham 1-1 Spurs
- 26/08/23 Arsenal 2-2 Fulham
- 19/08/23 Fulham 0-3 Brentford
LEAGUE POSITION
Heading into the fixture, Palace are 9th in the Premier League with 7 points from 5 games, while Fulham are 10th with the same points and games played.
RECORD AGAINST FULHAM
- Played 49
- Won 14
- Drawn 17
- Lost 18
FORM PLAYERS ACCORDING TO WHO SCORED
- Eberechi Eze 7.54
- Joachim Andersen 7.43
- Joao Paulhinha 7.05
- Bernd Leno 7.00
ONE TO WATCH
JOAO PALHINHA
FORMER CLUBS – Alta de Lisboa, Sacavenense, Sporting, Moreirense (loan), Belenenses (loan), Braga (loan)
The Portugeuse international made over 70 appearances for Sporting in his time at the club before the move to Fulham in July last year. He has impressed for the West London club and was expected to move in the summer with plenty of top clubs touting his name but a deal never materialised, much to the relief for Fulham.
KEY CLASH
ODSONNE EDOUARD v TIM REAM
The Frenchman is on a hot streak of soring form and will be looking for his fifth Premier League goal this weekend. He will be up against an experienced American centre back and an in form goalkeeper but if Palace continue to create chances, the former Celtic man will keep on scoring.
PRE-MATCH STATS
- GOALS – Odsonne Edouard (4 – 2nd in PL)
- ASSISTS – Jean-Philippe Mateta (3 – 3rd in PL)
- PASSES – Joachim Andersen (299)
- TACKLES – Cheick Doucoure (15 – 8th in PL)
- TOUCHES – Joachim Andersen (381)
- SHOTS – Eberechi Eze (23 – 2nd in PL)
- FOULS – Jordan Ayew (11 – 2nd in PL)
- DISPOSSESSED – Eberechi Eze (13 – 2nd in PL)
- SAVES – Sam Johnstone (7 – 18th in PL)
- CLEARANCES – Joachim Andersen (29 – 3rd in PL)
- BIG CHANCES MISSED – Odsonne Edouard / Jordan Ayew (2 – 3rd in PL)
THE NUMBERS
After a run of 3 straight league victories over Fulham between 2018 and 2020, Palace are now winless in their past 3 against the Cottagers (D2 L1).
In Fulham’s last game, a 1-0 win over Luton Town, the Cottagers had their most successful passes (733) and highest average possession total (77.6%) in any of their 537 Premier League games Opta has on record since 2003-04.
Eberechi Eze has completed more dribbles than any other player in the Premier League so far this season (20). Eze has also had 23 attempts at goal, second only to Manchester City striker Erling Haaland (29) across the division.
Fulham have only won 1 of their past 20 league London derbies (D5 L14), but that was a 3-0 victory at Palace last season. The Cottagers have just a 9% win ratio in those derbies in their Premier League history (P76 W7 D24 L45).
TEB PREDICTION
This is expected to be a tight game but the Eagles will want to make up for the late late defeat at Villa last weekend, and will likely remember the home defeat at the hands of Fulham last season. We are going for Eddie to get on the scoresheet again in a narrow victory.
FINAL SCORE: 2-1 to Palace
