Eberechi Eze shines as Crystal Palace ease past Fulham into FA Cup semi-finals

Eberechi Eze was the difference maker as Crystal Palace booked their trip to Wembley with a 3-0 win over Fulham in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Palace’s number 10, who was among those in England manager Thomas Tuchel’s first squad selection earlier this month, opened the scoring with a brilliant effort before he assisted Ismaila Sarr for his side’s second at Craven Cottage.

Eddie Nketiah came off the bench to add a third as Palace claimed a fifth successive win in all competitions.

Palace handed a start to the returning Jean-Philippe Mateta, who was sporting headgear to protect the ear injury suffered in his side’s fifth-round win at Millwall.

Fulham boss Marco Silva selected striker Rodrigo Muniz ahead of Raul Jimenez and the Brazilian looked to quickly prove his manager’s decision right, going close after two minutes with a spin, drive and effort which went slightly wide of the left post.

Alongside Muniz, 36-year-old Willian showed no signs of slowing down with him being at the heart of Fulham’s attacks down the left flank.

The former Chelsea and Arsenal winger was accompanied by overlapping left-back Antonee Robinson throughout, with a particular surging run infield forcing Adam Wharton into an early booking.

After Wharton avoided a second yellow card for a kick-out on Muniz, Palace started to get a foothold.

A Palace free-kick was headed clear towards Jefferson Lerma, whose outside-of-the-boot effort from distance cannoned off the crossbar in the 26th minute.

And eight minutes later, Palace opened the scoring in some style.

Eze cut inside and breezed away from Andreas Pereira, opening up his body and producing a moment of brilliance by slamming his effort into the far right corner.

The England international had the bit between his teeth and his quality was on full show again four minutes later when he helped Oliver Glasner’s side score another.

Eze skipped down the left and whipped an inch-perfect cross on to the head of Sarr, with the winger evading his marker and nodding past Bernd Leno for his side’s second.

Fulham tested Palace after the break but the Palace defence held firm before Silva turned to his bench after the hour mark, bringing on Emile Smith Rowe and Adama Traore.

The Cottagers came close to scoring when defender Calvin Bassey was denied a tap in by a last-ditch intervention from Sarr following a set-piece.

But the tie was wrapped up when Nketiah used his pace on the counter to get in behind the hosts’ defence before nutmegging Leno for a third in the 75th minute.

Next month’s semi-final will mark Palace’s first trip to Wembley since they lost to Chelsea at the same stage of the FA Cup in 2022.

Published: 29/03/2025 by Radio NewsHub