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Pierre Sage believes Crystal Palace "fought better than we played" after grinding out a 1-0 win over Fulham to reach the EFL Cup quarter-finals.
Sage was under pressure after a run of poor Premier League results with Palace, but some of that weight has eased after Eddie Nketiah's goal helped them to the win over Fulham.
Alvaro Arbeloa's side had dominated the first half, with Kenny Tete, Rodrigo Muniz, Antonee Robinson and Joachim Andersen all missing chances in the first 21 minutes.
And Nketiah scored with Palace's first shot in the 37th minute, deftly turning Oscar Mingueza's cross past Benjamin Lecomte to give them the lead against the run of play.
Fulham continued to dominate in the second half, with Dean Henderson keeping Alex Iwobi out at point-blank range before also pushing away Gonzalo Garcia's stoppage-time header.
Palace have won each of their last five away games against Fulham in all competitions, and have reached the quarter-final of the EFL Cup in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1999-00 and 2000-01.
While Sage was thrilled to pick up a much-needed win – and set up a meeting with Sunderland in the next round – he noted how important it is to make sure this performance transfers to the Premier League.
"We fought better than we played because we didn't have the ball too much, but sometimes we have to do it like this," Sage told Sky Sports.
"But we have to keep that up in the Premier League because we did not pick up three points [against Fulham].
"Our first final is against Tottenham on Saturday. We are really focused on this. We need points in the Premier League, and we need to be concentrated on this."
Yet another win at Craven Cottage https://t.co/tzdn9BW9XC
Palace had just four shots against Fulham worth 0.6 expected goals (xG), while the Cottagers underperformed their 1.5 xG from 14 attempts.
Sage's side also had just 25.6% possession, only attempted 280 passes, and had six touches in the opposition box, while Fulham had 29 and four Opta-defined 'big' chances.
This is the second time this season Fulham have lost to Palace at home, going down 3-2 in the Premier League thanks to a last-minute winner on that occasion, and Arbeloa rued his side's missed chances this time around.
"I'm disappointed. It was a similar game to the one we played some weeks ago [against Palace in the league]," he said.
"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.
"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."
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