[ad_1]
Michy Batshuayi scored his Crystal Palace debut with a decisive pbad as he beat Fulham to move to seven-point relegation positions.
The Belgian left the bench with nine minutes to make his first appearance at Palace. He had an instant impact thanks to a shot saved by Jeffrey Schlupp.
Earlier, the Eagles had taken advantage in the 25th minute over Luka Milivojevic. They were deserved winners at Selhurst Park. Christian Benteke and Mamadou Sakho lacked chances to make the victory even more convincing.
Fulham, meanwhile, conceded only one golden opportunity thanks to Aleksandar Mitrovic. He now ranks 19th in the Premier League and six points for safety.
Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson made two strong charges after the draw in Southampton on Wednesday for the London derby. Schlupp replaced Wilfried Zaha, suspended, and Benteke replaced injured Cheikhou Kouyate.
(Action pictures via Reuters)
The deadline for signing the loan agreement with Batshuayi could only be replaced by the bench, but it was better than the late arrivals of Fulham – Lazar Markovic and Havard Nordtveit – both of whom were totally excluded from their squad.
Instead, Claudio Ranieri made only one side change and beat Brighton on Tuesday, captain Tom Cairney replacing Andre Schurrle.
And it is the hero of Fulham, winner of this victory over Brighton, Mitrovic, who should have placed them in the lead after 11 minutes.
Joe Bryan spotted him with his center from the left, but the Serb, who scored twice Tuesday, could only get out of the head.
Fulham was forced to pay for this foul, after 25 minutes behind Milivojevic's penalty.
(Reuters)
Just as they did when they won in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Tottenham, the Eagles won it thanks to a ball of the hand – this time from Christie.
Fulham goalkeeper Sergio Rico helped Milivojevic's goal, but that was not enough to stop the ball from finding the right corner of the net.
Palace should have doubled its lead before half-time over Benteke, but the Belgian was denied a first goal of the season as his acrobatic volley hit the crossbar.
Ranieri hired Luciano Vietto at the break, hoping that the attacker could have an impact similar to that he had when winning on Brighton, when he scored his first goal for the club.
(AFP / Getty Images)
But it's Palace that seemed most likely to score the next goal and Rico had to make a powerful save to overthrow Jordan Ayew.
They should have scored the second goal that their game deserved 18 minutes from the end, but Sakho has a six-foot breakaway header.
Just under 10 minutes from the end, Batshuayi was launched for its debut and had an instant impact.
The striker shot brilliantly into the box to get his shot, and when Rico could only pick it up, Schlupp was on hand to kick the ball home to secure the three points.
Source link
