Premier League: Fulham move closer to European places

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Crystal Palace 0 - 3 Fulham

It was a nightmare Boxing Day for Patrick Vieira and Crystal Palace as they lost 3-0, finishing the game with 9 men.

Bobby Decordova-Reid, Tim Ream and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored, with Palace overpowered by their London rivals as they ended the game with nine men.

Tyrick Mitchell was dismissed for a foul on Kenny Tete just three minutes after his side went behind. James Tomkins then followed him before the hour.

Despite being dominant in the match throughout, Marco Silva's side were helped by Palace's indiscipline, which put a stop to their hopes of a fourth straight home win.

Fulham v Palace

The result strengthens the visitors' unlikely European push, as they sit in eighth, just two points off the top six.

Heading towards the half-hour mark, Palace, having struggled to impose themselves early on, almost took the lead.

Some clever play by Michael Olise freed Jordan Ayew inside the area, but his effort crashed off the bar.

Fulham made them pay moments later when Decordova-Reid headed the visitors into a deserved lead as Mitrovic pounced on slack play from Joachim Andersen before finding his team-mate with a pinpoint cross.

The hosts' misery was compounded further when Mitchell was dismissed after Tete reached a loose ball first and was caught by the Palace man.

Any chance of a quick Palace resurgence were quashed 12 minutes after the break. Tomkins, on a booking, appeared to elbow Mitrovic off the ball, resulting in the game's second red card.

Ream then reacted quickly to Mitrovic's knock-down from a corner to double Fulham's lead on 71 minutes. Mitrovic then made it three 10 minutes from time.

Reaction

One Palace fan told us: "Controversial 2nd red card and 2nd goal, I would say, but Fulham deserved the 3 points. Play Richards, Guehi, Joa, and Schlupp in the back 4 during the next fixture."

 A Fulham fan added: "Fantastic performance after two disappointing results. Glad to see Ream finally scored. Hoping for the same performance against Southampton."

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