PL: Fulham ease past nine-man Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira called his side’s defeat by Fulham at Selhurst Park “one of his worst days” in charge of the club.

Bobby Decordova-Reid, Tim Ream and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored, with Palace overpowered by their London rivals as they ended the game with nine men.

Tyrick Mitchell was shown a red card for a foul on Kenny Tete just three minutes after his side went behind, and James Tomkins followed him before the hour.

“It was one of the worst days since I’ve been at the club, not just because we lost the game. It was the way we did it, without competing,” Vieira told BBC Match of the Day.

“Fulham prepared their game really well and we weren’t brave enough to play forward. I believe we had the best chance before they scored their goal, but we didn’t do enough to deserve something from the game.

“We have to give them credit, analyse ourselves and try to bounce back as soon as possible.”

Dominant throughout, Marco Silva’s side were helped by Palace’s indiscipline, which put a stop to their hopes of a fourth straight home win.

The result strengthens the visitors’ unlikely European push, as they sit in eighth, just two points off the top six.

Heading towards the half-hour mark, Palace, having struggled to impose themselves early on, almost took the lead.

Clever play by Michael Olise freed Jordan Ayew inside the area, but his effort crashed off the bar.

Fulham made them pay moments later when Decordova-Reid headed the visitors into a deserved lead as Mitrovic pounced on slack play from Joachim Andersen before finding his team-mate with a pinpoint cross.

The hosts’ misery was compounded further when Mitchell was dismissed after Tete reached a loose ball first and was caught by the Palace man.

Any chance of a quick Palace resurgence were quashed 12 minutes after the break. Tomkins, on a booking, appeared to elbow Mitrovic off the ball, resulting in the game’s second red card.

Ream then reacted quickly to Mitrovic’s knock-down from a corner to double Fulham’s lead on 71 minutes.

Referee Andy Madley checked the VAR monitor for a potential handball against the Serb, only to stick with his original decision, before Mitrovic made it three 10 minutes from time.