Fulham midfielder Sander Berge revealed his excitement at the Cottagers' busy start to 2026, starting with a trip to Crystal Palace.

Marco Silva's side lost 2-1 to the Eagles earlier in December, their third defeat to Palace in 2025 – all of those came at Craven Cottage (two Premier League matches, one FA Cup).

Fulham, however, have won each of their last three Premier League matches since that narrow defeat at home, while they have also kept clean sheets in their last two games.

After their trip to Selhurst Park on New Year's Day, Fulham face Liverpool and Chelsea at home in the league before their FA Cup third round tie against Middlesbrough on January 10.

Berge is relishing their upcoming schedule, even though they will be considered as underdogs for at least two of those matchups.

"We've had some tough games against Palace," Berge told the club website. "We won there last time, but in the meantime, we lost three at home.

"Tight, tight games, always special games against them, we know each other really well now. When you go into the game, you know the pattern of it, you know each team's strengths and weaknesses.

"But we're ready, we're excited to get another chance to beat them. Obviously, a very tough and busy schedule to start the New Year with, but nothing better than three good challenges and an FA Cup tie, so we're excited."

Starting 2026 in South London.  pic.twitter.com/GVvoHxRGiY

— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) December 30, 2025

Palace, on the other hand, are without a win in the league since beating Fulham on December 7, leaving them 11th in the table.

In that time, they were also knocked out of the EFL Cup by Arsenal, while they also failed to secure a top-eight spot in the Conference League.

And to make matters worse for Oliver Glasner, he will be without Chris Richards and Eddie Nketiah against Fulham.

"Chris is not back, and for Newcastle [United on Sunday], it will be quite tight. His foot is too swollen, so he can't wear a boot right now – it's too painful," said Glasner.

"Eddie is out for this game, so let's see for the next game. We don't know exactly how long it will take [to recover] – we'll have to take it game by game.

"It's a little bit his muscle, but we don't know right now how serious it is. Of course, he's had a few issues this year, and that's why we are quite cautious."

Last time out against Fulham  pic.twitter.com/yOli96phzw

— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) December 30, 2025

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Crystal Palace – Jean-Philippe Mateta

Mateta is Palace's top scorer in the Premier League this season, scoring seven times in 18 appearances.

However, the Frenchman has failed to score in his last seven games in all competitions since dispatching a penalty against Manchester United on November 30.

Fulham – Harry Wilson

Wilson has been involved in seven goals in his last six Premier League games (three goals, four assists).

He has nine goal involvements overall this season (five goals, four assists), just one short of his best ever return in a single Premier League campaign (10 in 2023-24 – four goals, six assists).

MATCH PREDICTION – CRYSTAL PALACE WIN

The Eagles have been backed as favourites in this London derby, but their recent record in their fixture suggests they will have their work cut out for them at Selhurst Park.

Palace have failed to win (D2 L2) or score in any of their last four Premier League home games against Fulham, since a 2-0 victory in February 2019.

The away team is also unbeaten in each of the last nine Premier League meetings between Palace and Fulham (W5 D4), since that same fixture in February 2019.

Fulham have lost four of their last six league games played on New Year's Day (W2), with this their first since a 2-1 home loss to Reading in 2020 in the Championship.

However, Silva is unbeaten in his last five away Premier League matches against Palace (W2 D3), keeping a clean sheet in all five games. No manager has ever kept six consecutive away clean sheets against an opponent in Premier League history.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Crystal Palace – 50.5%

Draw – 25.1%

Fulham – 24.4%