Fulham 2-3 Crystal Palace: 25 shots and still no points

The one fixture this weekend between two clubs without a point produced five goals, twenty-five shots from the losing side, and the strangest afternoon of the round. Crystal Palace won 3-2 at Craven Cottage having trailed twice, and Fulham are nineteenth with nothing from three matches.

Seven days earlier Fulham had gone to Sunderland, taken eleven shots and put none of them on target. On Saturday they took twenty-five, hit the target six times, scored twice and lost. There is no version of a fortnight that makes less sense.

Five goals, and two of them from a full-back

Josh King put Fulham ahead on eleven minutes, left-footed from the centre of the box into the bottom right corner following a fast break. It was the first goal Fulham had scored since the opening weekend and it came from the one thing they had not tried: getting up the pitch quickly rather than building.

Tyrick Mitchell equalised on thirty-five, left-footed from a difficult angle on the left into the bottom left corner. César Palacios restored the Fulham lead on forty-two, right-footed from the centre of the box.

Mitchell then scored again on fifty-four, left-footed from the centre of the box into the middle of the goal, and Ben Chilwell won it on seventy-seven, left-footed from the centre of the box after a Daichi Kamada assist.

Three Palace goals, all left-footed, two of them from Mitchell. Palace had ten shots and five on target across ninety minutes and scored three of them.

Fulham did everything except win

Twenty-five shots. Six on target. 64.7% of the possession. Seven corners to Palace’s one. Six fouls committed, which is the lowest total of any side in the round.

Fulham were not outfought, out-thought or overrun. They led twice, they created more than any team in the division managed all weekend, and they lost by conceding three from a side that had scored one goal in its previous two matches — and that one an own goal by the opposition goalkeeper.

Three matches, no points, minus three. They are nineteenth, above only Coventry City on goal difference, and they are the only side in the division to have lost all three of its opening fixtures other than Coventry.

Palace have been transformed by one afternoon

Palace arrived at Craven Cottage having lost 2-0 at Everton and 4-1 at home to Manchester City, with 27.8% possession in the second of those and a single shot on target. Their only goal of the season had been put in by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

They left with three points, three goals scored by their own players, and thirteenth place. Coming from behind twice away from home, having not led a Premier League match for a single minute all season before Saturday, is a considerable turnaround inside ninety minutes.

The caveat is the shot count. Ten attempts and five on target against a side taking twenty-five is not a performance that repeats, and Palace’s goal difference is still minus four. But three points is three points, and it moves them out of the bottom five with the international break approaching.

Fulham’s fortnight, in two impossible numbers

Seven days apart, the same team produced eleven shots with none on target and then twenty-five shots with six on target. The first of those returns was among the worst of the season; the second was the highest shot total any side managed in the entire round.

Both matches ended in defeat. That is the sort of pair of numbers that makes form guides useless: there is no consistent version of Fulham to describe yet, only two extreme afternoons in opposite directions with the same outcome.

The one thing common to both is what happened at the other end. Sunderland scored with one of their four shots on target; Palace scored with three of their five. Fulham have conceded seven goals from opponents who have managed twenty-one shots between them across the two matches.

What happens to a side on nothing from three

Fulham’s position is worse than the table alone suggests, and better than it feels. Worse, because clubs that take nothing from three tend to spend a long time climbing out. Better, because a team taking twenty-five shots is not a team with a structural problem in attack.

The pattern across their three matches is not a lack of chances; it is that they have conceded seven goals from opponents who have had far less of the ball. Chelsea beat them 3-2 at Craven Cottage on the opening weekend. Sunderland beat them 1-0 with 41.6% of the possession. Palace beat them 3-2 with 35.3%.

Three matches, three opponents with a minority of the ball, three defeats. Whatever Fulham are doing when they do not have possession, it is the thing costing them the season so far.

You can play it forward yourself on the Premier League simulator on this site — the real remaining fixture list, the real table, and thirty-five rounds still to go.