LONDON: Eberechi Eze capped a memorable week with a goal and an assist as a clinical Crystal Palace beat London rivals Fulham 3-0 on Saturday to book their place in the FA Cup semi-finals.

The winger, who scored his first England goal on Monday, whipped in a brilliant opener against the run of play in the 34th minute to stun the home crowd.

Four minutes later Eze’s left-wing cross was headed in by Ismaila Sarr to put Palace in control of the tie.

Most of the second half was played in Palace’s half as Fulham tried to respond but the hosts were caught cold again when substitute Eddie Nketiah, a Cup winner with Arsenal in 2020, fired a shot past Bernd Leno in the 75th minute.

While Oliver Glasner’s Palace can look forward to a second Wembley semi-final in four seasons and dream of winning the FA Cup for the first time in their history, Fulham must console themselves with a push for Europe via the Premier League.

Much of the pre-match talk was about the return of Palace’s leading scorer this season Jean-Philippe Mateta after sustaining a horrible facial injury in the previous round against Millwall.

Mateta wore a mask to protect the ear wound that required more than 20 stitches and his name was sung by Palace’s large and vociferous following. But it was Eze who stole the show.

“We’re confident in ourselves and we know what we can do, we know what we are capable of,” he said. “It’s games like today where you show the mentality which will get you further in the tournament.”

With so many of the usual suspects having bowed out, fans of Fulham and Palace arrived with genuine belief that this could be the year they win their first major silverware.

Fulham, FA Cup runners-up in 1975, dominated the opening half an hour but it was Palace who packed the greater punch.

Eze broke the deadlock in stunning fashion, dropping his shoulder after receiving the ball wide on the left before lashing an unstoppable shot in off the far post.

The 26-year-old then jinked past Sander Berge and showed his ability on either foot with this time an inch-perfect left-footed cross for Sarr to head in at the near post.

“It’s unbelievable — the individual quality,” said Glasner on Eze’s impact. “It was so important the first goal because we got the belief back, we were really struggling in the beginning. You need something when you’re struggling in the game, some positive actions to get the belief back.”

Fulham applied plenty of pressure after the break with Willian almost scoring a replica of Eze’s goal but being denied by Dean Henderson while Calvin Bassey nearly bundled home after a goalmouth scramble.

There was not much conviction in Fulham’s play, however, and Nketiah put them out of their misery as twice Cup runners-up Palace reached the semi-finals for the sixth time.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2025