Crystal Palace Under-18s travel to face Fulham on Tuesday evening (17th March, 18:00 GMT) at Motspur Park, aiming to extend their winning run to five matches and close the gap on league leaders Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
The match will be streamed LIVE on Palace TV+ on Tuesday evening (17th March), with coverage beginning at 17:45 GMT ahead of a 18:00 GMT kick-off – click HERE to find out more and subscribe.
Supporters can follow live commentary on our Academy X (Twitter) page, with a full match report and reaction published shortly after full-time in our Academy news section.
Highlights and extended reaction will be available on Palace TV+.
The young Eagles arrive in excellent form, having won four consecutive matches across league and cup competitions to reach both the Premier League Cup final and the FA Youth Cup semi-finals, while remaining firmly in the U18 Premier League South title race.
Most recently, Mylo Bernard’s hat-trick inspired a thrilling 4-2 comeback victory over Reading in the U18 Premier League South on Saturday morning (14th March) at Bearwood Park.
Palace trailed 2-1 with ten minutes remaining before Bernard ignited the comeback. The forward first equalised with a clever side-foot finish from outside the area, before David Angibeaud restored Palace’s advantage with an instinctive flick, and Bernard then sealed the win with a composed one-on-one finish in the dying moments.
The victory keeps Palace third in the U18 Premier League South with 34 points, while allowing them to capitalise on games in hand over teams around them. The young Eagles remain nine points behind leaders Tottenham Hotspur, but with two games in hand, the title race remains very much alive.
While Fulham’s U21s currently sit fourth in the 29-team Premier League 2 table, their U18s have struggled to replicate that consistency this season.
The young Cottagers sit ninth in the U18 Premier League South, having played 20 of their 21 scheduled matches so far. With several teams around them holding games in hand, Fulham know every point will be crucial if they are to climb the table in the closing stages of the campaign.
Traditionally one of the stronger sides in the division, Fulham have lost ten of their 20 league matches this season. Despite this, they remain just five points behind fourth-placed Brighton, although they have played more matches than most teams around them.
Several talented players – including Seth Ridgeon, Seth Chingwaro, Logan Cooke and Alfie White – have featured regularly in higher age groups this season, further highlighting the strength of the club’s academy pathway.
Fulham arrive in confident form, unbeaten in their last three matches. That run includes a 5-1 victory over Reading, a dramatic 3-2 comeback win against Chelsea at Cobham, and a 1-1 draw with West Ham United.
Notably, Fulham became the only team this season to defeat then-Premier League South leaders Chelsea on their own turf, recovering from a 2-0 deficit to secure an impressive 3-2 victory.
Their most recent outing saw Chuk Obi score his tenth goal of the season in the 83rd minute for West Ham, only for Bashil Lubega to rescue a point with a late 87th-minute equaliser, highlighting the Cottagers’ resilience.
That resilience has been a hallmark of Fulham’s academy in recent seasons. The U18s finished fifth in each of the last two campaigns, narrowly ahead of Palace on both occasions, while in 2022/23 they finished second, edging the young Eagles by a single point.
Fulham U18s Expected XI: Mayer, Benchaita, Taylor, Cooke, Schutter, Obeng-John, Kondau-Wall, Sutton-Bangura, White (C), Vally, Dair
Andrew Joslin tends to field a consistent starting XI with minimal rotation, so Fulham’s line-up is unlikely to differ significantly from the one listed above.
However, there were several changes in their most recent match against West Ham. Defenders Logan Cooke and Quinn Schutter did not feature, while midfielder Archie Taylor was absent from the squad. In their place, Kymarley Morrison, Teddy Driscoll and Aidan Evans were introduced.
Substitute Bashil Lubega made a decisive impact after replacing Brodie Dair, scoring the late equaliser against West Ham, and could again play an important role from the bench.
Fulham have recorded eight wins, two draws and ten defeats in the league this season, meaning half of their matches have ended in defeat.
Across their last five fixtures, the Cottagers rank sixth on current form, collecting two wins, two draws and one defeat. They have scored 11 goals during that run, although they have also conceded seven, suggesting a degree of defensive vulnerability.
At home, Fulham currently rank eighth in the division. They have recorded two wins, one draw and two defeats at Motspur Park, scoring 10 goals but conceding 11. Only Norwich City, Arsenal and Birmingham City have conceded more goals at home this season.
Brodie Dair has contributed nine goals and three assists so far this season. The 17-year-old joined Fulham in February 2025 after impressing at youth level with St Johnstone in Scotland, where his goalscoring form earned him opportunities around the Scottish Premiership first team.
Shortly after arriving at Fulham, Dair made his Scotland U17 debut in a 1-0 defeat to Austria before scoring his first international goal in an 8-0 victory over Liechtenstein.
His first Fulham goals came late in the 2024/25 campaign, when he scored a brace in a 4-3 win over Arsenal, providing a strong platform heading into the current season.
Andrew Joslin was appointed Fulham Under-18s Head Coach at the start of the 2025/26 season.
He oversees the daily training programme and plays a key role in preparing players for professional careers, either at Fulham or elsewhere in the game.
Joslin has spent more than a decade at Fulham, working across the club’s entire development pathway from U9s through to U21s. He spent three seasons working alongside Ali Melloul with the U18s before stepping up to join Hayden Mullins’ U21 coaching staff during the 2024/25 season.
He recently completed the Premier League’s Elite Coaching Apprenticeship Scheme in 2025, further strengthening his coaching credentials.
The match will be streamed LIVE on Palace TV+ on Tuesday evening (17th March), with coverage beginning at 17:45 GMT ahead of a 18:00 GMT kick-off – click HERE to find out more and subscribe.
Supporters can follow live commentary on our Academy X (Twitter) page, with a full match report and reaction published shortly after full-time in our Academy news section.
Highlights and extended reaction will be available on Palace TV+.
Fulham Under-18s v Crystal Palace Under-18s