Fulham 1 Crystal Palace 1
I took another pleasant trip down by the river to Craven Cottage to watch Fulham vs Crystal Palace. The new season starts in six days time so there will be more of these sorts of blogs, sorry. It was not so long ago that Fulham were the established Premier League side and Palace were confined to second tier obscurity. The two teams' roles are very much reversed as we head into the 2015/16 season with Palace buoyed by the arrival of Alan Pardew in January and Fulham looking for a significant improvement on their 17th place finish in last season's Championship.
It was Fulham who struck first, Ben Stokes' strike from the edge of the area evading Wayne Hennessey at the new post on 6 minutes. Hennessey was later fortunate that the referee took a sympathic view that he had been fouled prior to handling the ball outside the area. Palace's star signing, Yohan Cabaye was clearly struggling for match fitness and contributed little other than a couple of shots in anger to a first half that was low on incident. It did however feature a warm reception for former Fulham hero Brede Hangeland who made an appearance as a substitute in the second half.
A vastly improved second half appearance from Palace followed, with Jordan Mutch and Wilfried Zaha frequently causing problems for the Fulham defence. A Mutch corner was flicked on and Pape Souare was first to the ball at the back post, heading strongly past Andy Lonegan to equalise. Palace could and perhaps should have gone on to win the game, with James MacArthur and Glenn Murray squandering decent opportunities in front of goal.
Kostas Mitroglu, the ill-fated £8m signing from Fulham's most recent season in the top flight made a surprise appearance and nearly conjured a winning chance for Tom Cairney who shot narrowly over on 75 minutes. All in all, a solid full-blooded encounter with Fulham deserving of the draw for their industry. Jamie O'Hara was at the heart of all their good play in central midfield and should be an important player for them in the upcoming season. If they continue in that vein, I'd expect them to improve on 2014/15. Palace meanwhile have started to develop a pacey, balanced side with a fair few attacking threats in it. Another top ten finish could be on the cards.
It was Fulham who struck first, Ben Stokes' strike from the edge of the area evading Wayne Hennessey at the new post on 6 minutes. Hennessey was later fortunate that the referee took a sympathic view that he had been fouled prior to handling the ball outside the area. Palace's star signing, Yohan Cabaye was clearly struggling for match fitness and contributed little other than a couple of shots in anger to a first half that was low on incident. It did however feature a warm reception for former Fulham hero Brede Hangeland who made an appearance as a substitute in the second half.
A vastly improved second half appearance from Palace followed, with Jordan Mutch and Wilfried Zaha frequently causing problems for the Fulham defence. A Mutch corner was flicked on and Pape Souare was first to the ball at the back post, heading strongly past Andy Lonegan to equalise. Palace could and perhaps should have gone on to win the game, with James MacArthur and Glenn Murray squandering decent opportunities in front of goal.
Kostas Mitroglu, the ill-fated £8m signing from Fulham's most recent season in the top flight made a surprise appearance and nearly conjured a winning chance for Tom Cairney who shot narrowly over on 75 minutes. All in all, a solid full-blooded encounter with Fulham deserving of the draw for their industry. Jamie O'Hara was at the heart of all their good play in central midfield and should be an important player for them in the upcoming season. If they continue in that vein, I'd expect them to improve on 2014/15. Palace meanwhile have started to develop a pacey, balanced side with a fair few attacking threats in it. Another top ten finish could be on the cards.
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