Crystal Palace suffered only their third home defeat after a 3-0 battering to Fulham in the Premier League. That was only Fulham’s second London derby win in 20 attempts, all have come this season.
Patrick Vieira’s side had come from behind to win five of their last six this season- but there was no such heroics at Selhurst as left back Tyrick Mitchell was sent off in the first half.
Vieira then looked to reshuffle his team but James Tomkins was also sent off just before the hour mark to pile the pressure on the home side and compound an already miserable Boxing Day for the Eagles. Tim Ream, Bobby Reid and Aleksandar Mitrovic got the goals for Fulham.
Fulham will be delighted with the win given Palace are very hard to beat at home with only Chelsea and Arsenal being the only sides to have taken all three points from Selhurst all season.
The result also strengthens the visitors’ unlikely European push, as they sit in eighth, just two points off the top six. It is now 22 points from 16 games under Silva this term, just six less than they got in the entirety of their last Premier League campaign two years ago.
Vieira will now have to pick his team up and try and the get them fighting again for their game against Bournemouth. Here is how we rated every Palace player out there.
1. Vicente Guaita
It was one of those strange games where he was not at fault but then conceded three times- 6 | Getty Images
2. Eberechi Eze
Sacrificed early in the second half after the sending off Mitchell but was not really influencing the game even before that-5 | Getty Images
3. Jordan Ayew
Full of running and trying to make things happen but was not really at his attacking best-5 | Getty Images
4. Nathaniel Clyne
One of the best performing Palace players even if he was at the receiving end of a battering- 5.5 | Getty Images