Crystal Palace manager Pierre Sage said his side “fought better than we played” after a 1-0 victory at Fulham secured their place in the EFL Cup quarter-finals.
Eddie Nketiah scored Palace’s first shot of the match in the 37th minute, turning Oscar Mingueza’s cross beyond Benjamin Lecomte to put the visitors ahead against the run of play.
The result offers some relief for Sage, who had been under pressure following a poor run of Premier League results. Palace will face Sunderland in the next round and have now reached the EFL Cup quarter-finals in successive seasons for the first time since 1999-00 and 2000-01.
Fulham had controlled the opening stages under Alvaro Arbeloa, but Kenny Tete, Rodrigo Muniz, Antonee Robinson and Joachim Andersen all failed to convert chances during the first 21 minutes.
The hosts continued to dominate after the interval. Dean Henderson produced a point-blank save to deny Alex Iwobi before making another important stop in stoppage time, pushing away a header from Gonzalo Garcia.
Palace have now won each of their past five away matches against Fulham in all competitions. However, Sage stressed that the resilience shown at Craven Cottage must also be matched in the league.
“We fought better than we played because we didn’t have the ball too much, but sometimes we have to do it like this,” Sage told Sky Sports.
“But we have to keep that up in the Premier League because we did not pick up three points [against Fulham].
“Our first final is against Tottenham on Saturday. We are really focused on this. We need points in the Premier League, and we need to be concentrated on this.”
Palace managed only four attempts, worth 0.6 expected goals (xG), while Fulham had 14 shots and recorded 1.5 xG. Sage’s team had 25.6% possession, attempted 280 passes and made six touches in the opposition box, compared with Fulham’s 29.
Fulham also created four Opta-defined ‘big’ chances but failed to score. It was their second home defeat by Palace this season, after losing 3-2 in the Premier League to a last-minute winner.
Arbeloa was frustrated that his team had been unable to turn their dominance into a goal.
“I’m disappointed. It was a similar game to the one we played some weeks ago [against Palace in the league],” he said.
“We controlled the game, had the chances and, in the end, they took their chance. One shot, one goal, and they were defending all the time.
“It didn’t work. We need to do better against a team like this that defends in a low block. We need to move the ball quicker, look for the wide areas, put in more crosses and do better with the final pass.
“It’s another day and the same story, so we need to improve. They were not jumping and pressing us. They were defending the space.
“You have to do it for 90 minutes, one time and another time. You need to be patient but aggressive at the same time. We have to do better.”
