Key events
Ed Aarons
It should have been a night for Crystal Palace supporters to savour. About 1,500 officially made the trip to Strasbourg for their second away match of the Conference League group stage last week, although plenty more had gathered in the pretty Alsatian city famous for its expansive Christmas market.
Yet while most were enjoying being part of Palace’s first European campaign after May’s FA Cup win, “a tiny minority” – as the club’s statement the following day described them – had different ideas. Footage of bottles and chairs being thrown as two rival groups of supporters of the same club clashed before the game in one of the city’s squares went viral on X. “Palace fans fighting each other in Strasbourg,” read the message, not surprisingly sparking widespread confusion.
The Guardian understands it was the culmination of a long-running feud between the Holmesdale Fanatics (HF) – an ultras group known for their vocal support and homemade tifos – and a collection of Palace fans said to have become increasingly antagonistic towards them. They are believed to be the group heard singing pro-Tommy Robinson songs and spotted with “Stop the boats” flags during Palace’s trips to Lublin to play Dynamo Kyiv in October and Fredrikstad for a playoff a month earlier. The group are thought to be more loosely organised than the HF and come from several different areas, including the Croydon suburb of New Addington, Crawley and Kent.
Team news
Both managers make two changes from their midweek games. Marco Silva brings in Timothy Castagne and Samuel Chukwueze for Ryan Sessegnon and Sasa Lukic.
Palace are without bullet train Daniel Munoz, who scored the winner at Burnley in midweek. Nathaniel Clyne replaces him and Eddie Nketiah comes in for Jefferson Lerma. In both cases that means a slight reshuffle, with Alex Iwobi and Daichi Kamada moving into deeper positions.
Fulham (4-2-3-1) Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Castagne; Berge, Iwobi; Wilson, Smith Rowe, Chukwueze; Jimenez.
Subs: Lecomte, Cairney, Traore, Cuenca, Kusi-Asare, Lukic, Kevin, King, Diop.
Crystal Palace (3-4-2-1) Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Clyne,
Wharton, Kamada, Mitchell; Nketiah, Pino; Mateta.
Subs: Matthews, Benitez, Lerma, Uche, Hughes, Esse, Canvot, Sosa, Devenny.
Referee Sam Barrott.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Fulham v Crystal Palace at Craven Cottage. We can say without fear of contradiction that it won’t be as exciting as Fulham’s last home game, the madcap 5-4 defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday. But it should be an engaging match between two excellently coached teams.
Fulham and Palace are separated by nine places and only six points, such is the congestion in the middle of the Premier League table. Despite the City defeat, Fulham have a pretty good home record: P7 W4 D1 L2, exactly the same as Palace’s record on the road. The contrast in styles – Fulham’s rhythmic possession versus Palace’s rapier counter-attacks – only adds to the appeal.
Kick off 4.30pm.
