Crystal Palace spoil Fulham's party as Premier League veterans shred Cottagers on the counter

Welcome to the Premier League. There has been £150m spent, a number of high-profile acquisitions and much confidence around Fulham in pre-season but that didn’t translate to points or goals as Crystal Palace came to town and ruined their opening-day party in a Premier League clash that was full of intrigue, a clash of styles and, ultimately, a warning to Fulham that this is how tough the top flight can be.

Blistering counter-attack goals from Jeffrey Schlupp and Wilfried Zaha in either half were the difference on the scoresheet after a game between two sides with far more differences than that.

There was a buzz of anticipation around Putney; the throngs of riverside drinkers contemplating the season ahead and the families walking through Bishop’s Park to the stadium whose children, dressed in the latest Fulham shirt, of course, could barely remember the last time this team was playing in the top flight. It was only 2014 but even since then the Premier League has evolved and kicked on, certainly in financial terms, and if you didn’t know that there was a real sense of expectancy around their return already then the matchday playlist inside Craven Cottage betrayed their excitement: ‘This is it’, ‘The time is now’ and ‘Baby I’m ready to go’ blaring out over the PA system before kick-off.

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Coming up against a team with six new faces in the starting XI and a further three on the bench, Palace might have thought they could catch the Premier League newcomers a little off-guard but the first half saw the Cottagers hit the ground running, showing a continuation of the slick passing football that saw them swagger out of the Championship to get here in the first place.

Newly-furnished with a raft of a exciting new signings, it was to Slavisa Jokanovic’s credit that his side looked comfortable at this level and not at all like the rabble of strangers you might have feared. If the hosts were the passers then Palace were the dribblers, a team built to counter-attack and one who do so with regularity and peril.

Roy Hodgson’s side looked at their best last season when they were shredding teams on the break and that was how they eventually would go in front during a first period where Fulham had most of the ball and a significant territorial advantage.

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Because for all Fulham’s strengths, their midfield was utterly incapable of dealing with Palace’s rampaging marauders as their own play broke down and the game became transitional. Zaha and Patrick Van Aanholt raided down the left, Townsend and Aaron Wan-Bissaka down the right, with Christian Benteke causing all sorts of problems through the middle.

For the first goal it was Townsend and Van Aanholt who were afforded too much time and the Dutchman slid Schlupp into the inside-left channel where he won the physical battle against Calum Chambers and thumped home into the roof of the net.

Palace going ahead only further cemented the pattern of the match as one where Fulham would dominate possession in an effort to carve out an opportunity and then the visitors would try to kill off the game on the counter, as they eventually did through Zaha.

Townsend and Zaha exchanged passes in their own half before passing to Benteke, who switched play for the impressive Wan-Bissaka. The 20-year-old full-back survived a punchy tackle from Aleksandar Mitrovic, cut inside another man and surged at the Fulham back line before weighting a perfect pass for Zaha, who rounded Fabri and tucked the ball home for 2-0.

It was another moment to forget for the new Fulham goalkeeper who is surely not long for the number 1 jersey after this performance and the deadline-day arrival of Sergio Rico from Sevilla. But it was another moment to remember for Zaha, who was nibbled and gnawed at all day by Fulham’s defenders but rose above it to prove once again that is this side’s talisman and one of the league’s most destructive forwards.