Eberechi Eze starred as Crystal Palace beat London rivals Fulham 3-0 at Craven Cottage to book their place in the FA Cup semi-finals.
It’s been a dream week for Eze, who scored his first England goal against Latvia at Wembley on Monday – and will now be heading back to the national stadium with Palace after striking a stunner in off the far post and then crossing for unmarked Ismaila Sarr to nod in the visitors’ second.
In the second half, Eddie Nketiah then stepped off the bench to stylishly wrap it up with a finish through Bernd Leno’s legs.
Jefferson Lerma had rattled the crossbar with a super volley before the breakthrough but Fulham had been on top, with Rodrigo Muniz shooting wide inside two minutes and Andreas Pereira passing up a good chance after good work from Calvin Bassey.
The hosts had also appealed for Adam Wharton to be sent off when the Palace midfielder, already on a yellow card, kicked out at Muniz on the halfway line. Referee Darren England blew for a free-kick but despite a VAR check there was no further punishment.
Palace were well organised after the break, frustrating Fulham, who came closest to grabbing a lifeline when Willian’s deflected strike had Dean Henderson at full stretch and Calvin Bassey miscued in a goalmouth scramble from the subsequent corner.
But just as in the 2-0 Premier League win for Palace here last month, Fulham couldn’t carve a way through, and Palace punished them on the counter when Nketiah narrowly stayed onside to slot in the third.
Fulham have now lost their last five FA Cup quarter-finals but must pick themselves up swiftly for Tuesday’s trip to another London rival in Arsenal, where they will hope to maintain their push for European qualification through the Premier League.
As for Palace, they’ll now be circling the weekend of 26/27 April on the calendar for a return to Wembley, where they’ll have the chance to make up for their 2022 semi-final loss to Chelsea and give themselves a shot of finally getting their hands on the famous FA Cup trophy.
More to follow…
