Crystal Palace began the new year with another reminder that leads are only useful when you can keep hold of them. Jean-Philippe Mateta’s first-half header had Selhurst Park stirring, but substitute Tom Cairney’s superb late equaliser earned Fulham a point and stretched Palace’s winless run across all competitions to six.
The first half had the slightly dulled tempo of a holiday fixture, but Fulham carried the early edge in threat. Harry Wilson forced Dean Henderson into the first meaningful save of the afternoon and Raúl Jiménez, alive to the rebound, could only scuff wide when Palace’s box briefly looked unguarded. Palace’s approach was tidier than it was sharp, circulating possession and waiting for an opening that didn’t quite appear until they began getting regular service into the wide areas.
Palace’s first clear chance arrived on 32 minutes, Marc Guéhi denied from close range by Bernd Leno. It was the prelude to a key flashpoint. Fulham’s Jorge Cuenca went down after a challenge that appeared to involve minimal contact, and referee Tony Harrington ordered him off the pitch for treatment. With Fulham temporarily a man short, Palace moved quickly, and when Nathaniel Clyne delivered from the right, Mateta attacked the far-post space and powered his header beyond Leno.
It was Mateta’s first goal from open play since November 1, and it should have been the foundation for Palace to finally calm a jittery run of results. But the goal arrived with a sting for Fulham. Marco Silva was unimpressed by the decision that took Cuenca off the pitch, and afterwards he made his view plain: it was “a strange decision,” and he believed Fulham “should not have been playing with 10 men in that moment” because his player was fit to continue.
Palace had chances to turn the advantage into something safer before the break. Clyne and Will Hughes both went close, and Fulham looked rattled enough that a second goal felt within reach. Palace didn’t land it, and the match slowly swung towards the kind of finish their supporters have come to dread, the one where the clock runs down but the pressure runs up.
Fulham’s second half began with another setback when Kenny Tete was forced off with a hamstring injury, prompting an early reshuffle. It didn’t blunt their threat for long. Antonee Robinson started to find space for deliveries from the left, and Jiménez’s movement asked awkward questions of Palace’s centre-backs. Palace still had moments to kill it, most notably when Mateta failed to react sharply enough to convert a clever pass from the impressive Yeremy Pino that would have provided genuine breathing room.
Instead, Fulham’s pressure grew into proper chances. Jiménez met a Robinson cross with a header that struck the post, and Palace survived another heart-in-mouth sequence when Leno, after an initial mistake, pushed the ball onto the bar and Guéhi somehow blocked teammate Maxence Lacroix’s effort on the line in the ensuing scramble.
That escape proved decisive, because Fulham eventually found their equaliser on 80 minutes and it was worth the wait. A neat combination involving Robinson and Wilson worked the ball to Cairney on the edge of the area. The Fulham captain, introduced from the bench, opened his body and whipped a brilliant left-foot finish beyond Henderson. Silva celebrated with a double fist pump, as if to turn irritation into satisfaction in one motion.
The closing stages had chances to swing the result either way. Henderson produced a superb added-time save to deny Timothy Castagne, and Fulham then wasted the clearest opportunity of all when former Palace defender Joachim Andersen blazed over with virtually the last kick of the match.
Palace manager Oliver Glasner did not hide his frustration afterwards, describing his side as “a little bit in survival mode” as the fixtures continue to pile up. For Fulham, it was another display of resilience and control, strong enough to earn a point and, with sharper finishing late on, they might have stolen all three. For Palace, it was the same old lesson dressed in a new calendar: one goal rarely feels like enough.
