Eddie Nketiah's smart first-half finish put Crystal Palace into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals as Pierre Sage's side snatched victory at Fulham.

The cup run won't relieve all the pressure on Sage, given Palace have lost five of their eight Premier League games to put huge focus on the manager's position, but this will brighten the mood at the club.

The Eagles boss gambled with 10 changes from the weekend defeat by Newcastle in the Premier League, with his focus clearly more on Saturday's trip to Tottenham, but they still managed to squeeze past Alvaro Arbeloa's side.

Fulham started strongly but squandered early chances, with Kenny Tete, Antonee Robinson and Joachim Andersen all off target from inside the area.

The visitors were being completely dominated in the opening half, but then Nketiah found the net against the run of play.

Oscar Mingueza crossed in the 37th minute and Nketiah provided a clever flick to find the net with what was Palace's only shot of the first half.

Fulham, who made six changes from their weekend win over Coventry, kept Palace under pressure after the break.

Alex Iwobi had a close-range effort saved by Dean Henderson, who recovered from injury to make his first appearance since early September for the Eagles.

Fulham boss Arbeloa made changes in a bid to get Fulham level in the tie - including bringing on Josh King and Gonzalo Garcia.

Daichi Kamada missed a good chance for Palace late on before Garcia had a header saved by Henderson at the other end as Fulham failed to find an equaliser.

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