England attacker Eberechi Eze made it a week to remember for club and country after scoring one and setting up another to help put Crystal Palace on the road to victory at Fulham in their FA Cup quarter-final clash on Saturday.
Eze's curling finish put Palace ahead on the 34th minute as the Eagles eased to a ruthless 3-0 win at Craven Cottage, coming just four days after notching his first goal for the Three Lions in their World Cup qualifying victory over Latvia by the same scoreline at Wembley Stadium.
Ismaila Sarr headed home a second for Oliver Glasner's men four minutes after the opener, with Eze supplying his 10th assist across all competitions for Palace this season.
Substitute Eddie Nketiah put the icing on the cake with 15 minutes to go with a calm finish past under Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno's feet.
It sealed a second semi-final appearance in four seasons, keeping their dream of a first ever FA Cup victory alive and continuing Palace's fine Premier League form that has seen them win four and draw one of their last five matches.
“It was an important goal,” said Eze of his opener. “I'm happy to help the team and that's what I'm here for. We didn't start the best, it was difficult and there was a lot of defending but eventually we broke them down.
“I want to get the ball in the pockets and cutting inside, thank God it went in today. We took our chances when we got them and we put in a good performance.
“We're confident in ourselves and we know what we can do, we know what we are capable of. It's games like today where you show the mentality which will get you further in the tournament.”
Captain Marc Guehi praised his team's resilience in the all-London quarter-final. "We dig deep and got our rewards," said the England defender.
“Big credit to the manager and the staff, we make sure we are set up in the right way with real leaders on the pitch. There is resilience in the team and that's what we need.
“We'll take it one game at a time. We did what we had to do today, we focus on the league and then focus on who we get in the next round. One game at a time. We thank God for this opportunity so we will do our best to take it.”
Palace handed a start to the striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, who was sporting headgear to protect the horror head injury suffered in his side's fifth-round win at Millwall.
It was Fulham who enjoyed the early pressure with Rodrigo Muniz going close after two minutes with a spin, drive and effort which went just wide.
Alongside Muniz, 36-year-old Willian showed no signs of slowing down with the former Chelsea and Arsenal winger at the heart of Fulham's attacks down the left flank.
Willian was accompanied by overlapping left-back Antonee Robinson throughout, with a particular surging run infield forcing Adam Wharton into an early booking.
After Wharton avoided a sending off for a kick-out on Muniz – which Fulham manager Marco Silva would later call a “clear” second yellow card – Palace started to get a foothold.
They almost took a lead in stunning fashion when Jefferson Lerma cannoned a strike with the outside of his boot off the crossbar from outside the box.
Just eight minutes later, the Eagles were in front – and in some style when Eze cut inside and breezed away from Andreas Pereira, opening up his body and slotting home into the far right corner.
It was two not long after when Eze skipped down the left and whipped an inch-perfect cross on to the head of Sarr, with the Senegalese evading his marker and nodding past Bernd Leno.
The tie was wrapped up when Nketiah used his pace on the counter to get in behind the hosts' defence before nutmegging Leno for a third.
Next month's semi-final will mark Palace's first trip to Wembley since they lost to Chelsea at the same stage of the FA Cup in 2022.
Silva, meanwhile was left bemoaning his side for not being “ruthless and clinical” during their spell of pressure early in the game.
“[For] 25 minutes of the match, we completely dominated and we had three or four dangerous moments around their goal,” said the Portuguese coach. “We should have scored in those moments. You need to be ruthless and clinical.
"They are solid and compact. They set nine players around their box every single time and when we are able to create, we have to score. We didn't and we were not strong in both ends this afternoon.”
