Crystal Palace crashed into the Premier League’s top four with a dramatic 2-1 win at Fulham, a result that continues one of the most unlikely early season storylines anyone expected. Marc Guehi nicked a late winner at Craven Cottage, sending the away end barmy and nudging Palace above Chelsea and Everton in the table, which genuinely feels like a misprint.
Oliver Glasner’s side has now won four from their last six, and there’s suddenly a weird confidence about them, the sort of momentum normally reserved for clubs with stadium tours and global sponsors. Palace was always the team that finished 12th without fuss, a fixture in mid table purgatory. Now they’re sniffing around the Champions League spots and making it look almost normal.
It’s been building for a while. Last season they mugged Manchester City in a mad FA Cup final no one remembers how they won, then followed it up with a Community Shield win against Liverpool like it’s the easiest thing in the world. There was talk at the time that it was a fluke, a fun little moment before reality kicked their door back in. Turns out reality hasn’t bothered turning up yet.
The visitors struck first on 20 minutes, when Adam Wharton slid in Eddie Nketiah and the forward drilled low past Bernd Leno with the sort of ruthless finish Arsenal fans still argue about online. Fulham hit back with a beauty, Harry Wilson shaping a ridiculous outside of the boot strike that dipped past Dean Henderson like he’d meant it the whole time.
Emile Smith Rowe thought he’d flipped the match on its head, tapping in after Samuel Chukwueze slipped free, but VAR spotted an offside so tight it probably annoyed everyone equally. Fulham puffed their cheeks out, Palace looked rattled, and the match fell into that nervy, scrappy chaos that mid table games sometimes love.
Then, with three minutes left, Palace landed the punch. Guehi rose to meet a corner and smashed a header past Leno to settle it, with the defender wheeling away like he’d just sealed a cup final rather than sent Palace into a European spot at the start of December, which is arguably more ridiculous.
The win leaves Palace sitting fourth, staring at a Champions League puzzle that nobody asked them to solve. They’re ticking over in Europe already, and if this keeps going beyond Christmas, the club that spent a decade as background noise might suddenly turn up for the main event.
It’s still early, everyone keeps saying that, because nobody actually knows how to talk about Palace as a top four side without laughing. But if this is genuinely happening, the Premier League might have its funniest plot twist in years.
