Eberechi Eze’s goal and assist helped Crystal Palace cruise past London rivals, Fulham in a 3-0 win at Craven Cottage to reach the 2024-25 FA Cup Semi-Finals.
Eze fired Palace in front with a clinical 34th-minute curled strike into the far-right corner, before he provided a 38th minute assist for Ismaila Sarr to double Palace’s lead.
Oliver Glasner’s Eagles sealed their semi-final spot with a 75th minute strike from substitute, Eddie Nketiah, who had pounced up a pass from fellow sub – Daichi Kamada.
Crystal Palace will discover their Semi-Final opponents on Sunday 30 March at circa 15:30pm BST following the conclusion of Preston’s Quarter-Final tie against Aston Villa, live on BBC One in the UK.
Speaking post-match to ITV1, Eze explained that he was happy to net the breakthrough opening goal after a “difficult” start to the match.
“It was an important goal. I’m happy to help the team and that’s what I’m here for. We didn’t start the best, it was difficult and there was a lot of defending but eventually we broke them down.
“I want to get the ball in the pockets and cutting inside, thank God it went in today. We took our chances when we got them and we put in a good performance.”
Eze also spoke of the importance of how this victory will benefit Palace as they continue this season’s run-in.
“We’re confident in ourselves and we know what we can do, we know what we are capable of. It’s games like today where you show the mentality which will get you further in the tournament.”
With a semi-final spot and the last London team standing in this season’s competition at stake, Fulham made a strong front-footed start as Rodrigo Muniz burst forward and forced a third-minute save from Palace’s Dean Henderson.
The Cottagers soon began to dominate as Joachim Andersen put a 11th-minute rebound shot wide, before Andreas Pereira then fired a 19th-minute shot wide of the right corner from Calvin Bassey’s cutback pass.
Palace though dug in defensively but managed to carve out two decent chances as Jean-Philippe Mateta – on his return from a head injury suffered in their fifth-round win over Millwall – tried to meet Sarr’s cutback pass but Bernd Leno made a 13th-minute save.
Jefferson Lerma was the next Palace player to give Fulham a scare as he met Alex Iwobi’s headed clearance on the volley but struck the crossbar in the 26th minute.
Palace eventually found their groove with a clinical opening goal in the 34th minute as Tyrick Mitchell teed up Eze to cut in from the left and curl into the far-right bottom corner, which came less than a week after Eze had netted his first international goal for England in a 3-0 home win over Latvia.
Eze soon turned playmaker just four minutes later as he broke up the left with a cross to the near-left post, which Sarr calmly nodded in beyond Leno’s grasp to put Palace in firm control of the tie, just like they were with the same score-line in their league visit in February 2025.
Fulham attempted to mount a response despite having failed to recover from 2-0 down in a home game since a 4-2 Premier League comeback win over Brighton in January 2019, as their best chance fell to Bassey in the 68th minute as he pounced on Joachim Andersen’s header but was twice denied in quick succession.
Palace eventually wrapped up victory with a well-executed combination from their two substitutes which saw Kamada unleash Nketiah to smash in their third goal from a tight angle.
Palace’s victory meant that they have reached the semi-finals in two of the last four seasons, whilst Fulham’s wait for a first appearance in the final four since 2001-02 season continues for at least another season.
What’s Next?
Fulham now turn their focus back to their push for a top-four finish in the Premier League as they visit Arsenal at 7:45pm BST on Tuesday 1 April.
Palace will too return to league action in midweek but 24 hours later as they visit Southampton on Wednesday 2 April.
Teams
Fulham: Bernd Leno, Timothy Castagne, Joachim Andersen, Calvin Bassey, Antonee Robinson (Sessegnon 71′), Sander Berge, Sasa Lukic (Traore 63′), Andreas Pereira (Smith Rowe 63′), Alex Iwobi, Willian (Jimenez 71), Rodrigo Muniz
Substitutes: Steven Benda, Tom Cairney, Jorge Cuenca, Issa Diop, Raul Jimenez, Harrison Reed, Ryan Sessegnon, Emile Smith Rowe, Adama Traore
Crystal Palace: Dean Henderson, Chris Richards, Maxence Lacroix, Marc Guehi, Daniel Munoz (Clyne 87′), Adam Wharton (Kamada 70′), Jefferson Lerma, Tyrick Mitchell, Ismaila Sarr (Devenny 87′), Eberechi Eze (Franca 90′), Jean-Philippe Mateta (Nketiah 70′)
Substitutes: Ben Chilwell, Nathaniel Clyne, Justin Devenny, Matheus Franca, Daichi Kamada, Romain Esse, Caleb Kporha, Eddie Nketiah, Matt Turner
Referee – Darren England
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