Eddie Nketiah steered Crystal Palace into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup as they won 1-0 at Fulham.

The striker scored in the first half of their fourth-round tie at Craven Cottage, to help ease the pressure on under-fire boss Pierre Sage.

Fulham dominated the first half and missed a slew of chances, only to see Palace take the lead with their first shot of the game on 37 minutes.

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Oscar Mingueza burst down the right and crossed for Nketiah to flick in with a deft touch.

Fulham then continued to push after the break, with Alex Iwobi going closest as he forced a point-blank save from Dean Henderson from a corner.

They had another big chance to level in stoppage-time, but Henderson was on hand again to palm away Gonzalo Garcia's header.

The key moments from Craven Cottage

16: BIG CHANCE! Tete miscues his header at the back post completely unmarked. Fulham should be ahead.

18: SAVE! Fulham have ANOTHER huge chance to score but Robinson's tame effort is saved by Henderson.

37: GOAL! PALACE LEAD OUT OF NOWHERE! Pierre Sage's side are in front with their first shot of the game. Nketiah steers in Mingueza's cross from the right with a deft touch. That is just his 10th touch of the game. That must have been Palace's first attack.

68: FULHAM HAVE TO SCORE! Castagne's flick at the front post helps the cross find Iwobi but his effort is straight at Henderson. The Palace goalkeeper kept that one out with his legs from the close-range effort.

87: HUGE CHANCE! Kamada should wrap the game up for Palace but he sends the shot wide from inside the box.

Arbeloa: Same story against Palace again

Fulham boss Alvaro Arbeloa:

"I'm disappointed. It was a similar game to the one we played some weeks ago [against Palace in the league]. We controlled the game, had the chances and, in the end, they took their chance. One shot, one goal, and they were defending all the time.

"It didn't work. We need to do better against a team like this that defends in a low block. We need to move the ball quicker, look for the wide areas, put in more crosses and do better with the final pass.

"It's another day and the same story, so we need to improve.

"They were not jumping and pressing us. They were defending the space.

"It's not easy against a team that defends with so many players in a tight space. Because of that, you need to move the ball quicker, make more runs in behind, try to put in more crosses and use the wide areas.

"You have to do it for 90 minutes, one time and another time. You need to be patient but aggressive at the same time. We have to do better."

Sage: I know what kind of player Nketiah can be

Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage:

"I know what kind of player he is and what kind of player he could be. I spoke with him last week, and the message is what he said. He is right.

"His potential is higher than his performances at the moment. We have to reduce this gap because he needs it, the team needs it and his skills need it.

"In this situation, the fact that he does not play too much and that there is pressure when he does play because he needs to score can be bad for a player. But when he makes that switch, he is able to do very important things for us."

Sage also reserved special praise for goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who made his first appearance since the Premier League win at Fulham at the start of September.

"He is a wonderful goalkeeper. He showed it again today. He is an important captain and an important person. I am very happy for him to come back.

"Dean is a big part of this success and this defensive success. The confidence in him is immense and very important too."

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