Fulham 0-1 Crystal Palace: Nketiah's flick beats 74% possession to send Palace through

Fulham did nearly everything a home side wants to do in a cup tie except score. They had almost three-quarters of the ball, won nine corners to Crystal Palace's none and kept the visitors pinned for long stretches at Craven Cottage. Palace needed one move, one cross and one touch, and that was enough for a 1-0 win in the Carabao Cup fourth round.

The goal came in the 37th minute. Óscar Mingueza broke down the right and crossed, and Eddie Nketiah got on the end of it to flick the ball in with a deft touch. Sky Sports described the half as one Fulham dominated, "missing a slew of chances".

Goal and bookings

• 37' — Eddie Nketiah, assisted by Óscar Mingueza (Crystal Palace) 0-1
• 19' — Sander Berge booked (Fulham)
• 50' — Jefferson Lerma booked (Crystal Palace)
• 63' — Evann Guessand booked (Crystal Palace)

Fulham kept coming after the interval. Alex Iwobi forced a point-blank save from Dean Henderson, and the Palace goalkeeper denied Gonzalo García's header in stoppage time to protect the lead. Palace head coach Pierre Sage singled out his goalkeeper afterwards: "He is a wonderful goalkeeper."

Who played

The numbers behind a lopsided 1-0

Fulham completed 717 of 789 passes, Palace 207 of 280. The gap in the ball was close to three to one. The gap that counted was in the finishing. Fulham head coach Álvaro Arbeloa summed it up bluntly: "One shot, one goal, and they were defending all the time." He added: "I'm disappointed. It was a similar game to the one we played some weeks ago."

Same pair, same margin of luck

The tie had a recent precedent. On 5 September Palace won 3-2 at Fulham in the Premier League. That result is the only meeting between the two in Guriball's archive before this one, and it means Palace have now won both games at Craven Cottage this season.

Palace's run in the cup and in the league

As a Premier League side, Palace entered the competition at the third round, where they beat Middlesbrough 3-0 at Selhurst Park on 8 September. The win takes them past the fourth round. In the league their autumn had been harder: they lost 0-5 at Brighton on 18 October and 0-2 at home to Newcastle United on 25 October before this trip to west London. The cup gave Sage a clean sheet and a win,.

For Fulham, it ended a cup run in which they were, by every measure on the stats sheet, the better side. In the league they had won 1-0 at Coventry City four days earlier, so the home side arrived on a decent run of form and left with nothing to show for 74% of possession.

What's next

Crystal Palace are into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, where the bracket sends them to a home tie against Sunderland on 16 December 2026 at 19:30. Fulham return to Premier League business with the cup out of the way.