Eberechi Eze's resurgence continues as Palace star kickstarts transfer talk by ending Fulham's party

If either side were not aware of the enormity of Saturday afternoon's all-London quarter-final at Craven Cottage, their supporters reminded them of the match's importance minutes before kick-off.

The home faithful were in party mode as their players were welcomed onto the pitch by a sea of white flags/balloons and a rather large banner, which read: 'London's Original Football Club'. It was a proper FA Cup occasion.

Palace and Fulham have lost three FA Cup finals, while neither side has won the competition. So, it should not be surprising that this quarter-final was heated from minute one, with heavy challenges and well-fought battles to follow the great pre-match scenes.

England international Adam Wharton was given a reprieve by forgiving officials after his needless swipe at Rodrigo Muniz, which could have easily resulted in a second booking before the interval.

Muniz was a constant thorn in Palace's side after he was given the nod ahead of Raul Jimenez to start, mainly due to his great FA Cup form with four goal involvements in Fulham's previous three ties.

Marc Guehi, Maxence Lacroix and Craig Richards were given the runaround by Muniz's strong holdup play and powerful running, with Fulham comfortably the better side for the opening 25 minutes.

Muniz curled his shot wide inside the opening five minutes before Andreas Pereira failed to convert his low effort after Calvin Bassey's run from centre-back carved Palace open.

Palace barely got out of their half for the first quarter of the match, as they remained solid even with Muniz's success and gradually grew into the game.

The turning point came as Jefferson Lerma sweetly struck a perfectly timed volley, which had the hearts of all supporters in their mouths as the ball bounced away off the crossbar.

Muniz was winning the number nine battle as Jean-Phillippe Mateta, resembling Petr Cech with his new head guard, struggled with his touches often loose.

Thankfully for Palace, Eze stepped up and almost singlehandedly won the match within five minutes.

Days after scoring his first England goal, Eze produced another moment of individual brilliance by drifting inside and drilling the ball into the far corner past Bernd Leno from the edge of the penalty area.

This silenced a jubilant Craven Cottage, and Eze worsened the mood of the home supporters soon after, making the most of the freedom afforded by Serge Berge to work an angle for an expert cross, which was converted past Leno at the near post by Ismaila Sarr.

Behind Arsenal and Liverpool, Crystal Palace have the third-best defence in the Premier League with only 33 goals conceded, so Fulham were given a mountain to climb following Eze's two acts of quality.

The Cottagers had a good go at climbing said mountain and Palace prevented a grandstand finish by denying Bassey on the goal-line, but lacked the necessary pace and creative spark to break through an impenetrable defence.

It was a match to forget for Mateta as he exited with 20 minutes remaining having offered very little and was upstaged by his replacement as Eddie Nketiah settled the match with 15 minutes remaining with a calm finish after beating the offside trap.

The former Arsenal star has cut a frustrated figure in Mateta's shadow for most of this season, but suddenly has three goals in four competitive matches with Palace finally starting to see a return on the 25m pounds plus add-ons fee invested to sign him at the end of last season.

It was another positive day for Nketiah en route to his return to prominence and for Palace as they pretty seamlessly booked their place in the semi-finals with supporters praying for Oliver Glasner to create some Wembley magic after Alan Pardew failed via dancing on the touchline vs Man Utd in the 2016 final.

But it was Eze's day in what's otherwise been a sub-par season for an attacking midfielder of his immense quality.

Eze is a joy to watch on his day, but he has not produced this level of performance enough times this season. He will need to maintain this standard if he's to remain in Thomas Tuchel's England squad and potentially follow Michael Olise in securing a major transfer at the end of the season.

This version of Eze is a player who could play for any of the Big Six in a heartbeat, with a role in Ruben Amorim's 3-5-2 formation perhaps most aligned with his attributes.

A 68m pounds move to Man Utd has been mooted with Eze 'open' to the switch, and a sustained run of top form (potentially to seal the FA Cup for Crystal Palace) could make him a prime candidate to re-energise Amorim's attack.

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