Fulham and Crystal Palace are two of the four remaining clubs in this season’s Emirates FA Cup to have never won the oldest football competition in England. In fact, neither team have won a major trophy in their history. Saturday’s midday clash at Craven Cottage [12:15 GMT] presents a golden opportunity for both teams to edge closer to long-awaited silverware.
After comfortable victories against Watford and Wigan in the early rounds, the Cottagers overcame Manchester United last time out following a historic penalty shoot-out victory at Old Trafford. Fulham have now reached the quarter-final stage under Marco Silva for the second time in three seasons.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace will face a Premier League side for the first time on their FA Cup journey this season, having faced opposition in all three divisions below them so far. The Eagles last reached this stage of the competition in 2022 when they thrashed Everton 4-0 under Patrick Vieira.
This is the first time since 1907 that these two sides are meeting in the FA Cup and with a semi-final spot at Wembley on the line, expect a passionate and tense London derby.
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The stats
Saturday’s clash is of course an all-Premier League tie. An impressive campaign up to now has Fulham in 8th place, battling for European qualification, whilst Palace are sat comfortably in mid-table following a recent resurgence that has seen them pick up the third most points in the league since the start of the new year.
As far as recent battles go, both sides defeated each other away from home this season. Goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Harry Wilson secured three points for Marco Silva’s side at Selhurst Park in November, but Palace marked their revenge at Craven Cottage last month thanks to goals from Joachim Andersen and Daniel Muñoz.
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Between 1958 and 2002, Fulham won all four of their FA Cup quarter-final ties, making the final once in 1975 when they lost 2-0 to West Ham. However, since then they have failed to progress to the semi-finals in their last four attempts (2004, 2009, 2010 and 2023).
On the other hand, the Eagles have had much greater success at this stage of the competition in recent history. Palace have won four of their last five FA Cup quarter-finals, with a defeat to Watford in 2019 being their only blip during this run.
Team news
Marco Silva has confirmed that Fulham will be without Harry Wilson, Kenny Tete and Reiss Nelson ahead of Saturday’s London derby. However, Saša Lukić is available having served his two-game ban and Antonee Robinson is expected to be fit despite missing international duty with the United States national team.
Oliver Glasner will greatly welcome the return of his top scorer, Jean-Philippe Mateta, who has been passed fit after suffering a dreadful head injury in the fifth round against Millwall. Chadi Riad and Cheick Doucouré remain long-term absentees for Crystal Palace.
We expect Alex Iwobi and Eberechi Eze to be the two players to watch on Saturday afternoon. Iwobi has been a standout performer for Fulham this season, providing a constant attacking threat whilst filling in in multiple positions. Meanwhile, Eze will be buoyed after scoring his first senior goal for England and will be looking to take that confidence into the end of the season, starting on Saturday.
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TV guides
Fulham v Crystal Palace will be live on ITV 1, with coverage beginning at 11:30 GMT ahead of kickoff at 12:15 GMT.
FromTheSpot Prediction
In what is likely to be a close battle at Craven Cottage on Saturday, we expect Crystal Palace to edge a 2-1 win after extra-time.
With four wins in a row in all competitions, including a 2-0 victory against Fulham away from home, Palace are in the ascendency heading into this quarter-final tie. If they do secure the win, it will be the first time since 1964-65 that the Eagles would have beaten an opponent twice on the road in the same campaign.