Ben Chilwell marked his second Crystal Palace debut by scoring the winning goal as the Eagles edged out Fulham 3-2 at Craven Cottage.

Palace claimed their first victory under Pierre Sage, twice coming from behind to take all three points in an entertaining London derby on Saturday.

Fulham broke the deadlock in the 11th minute as Josh King received Oscar Bobb's cutback, before his shot deflected off Jaydee Canvot and into the net. 

The visitors were denied an equaliser soon after. Daichi Kamada tucked away from close range after being found by Yeremy Pino's neat throughball, but his close-range finish was ruled out for offside after a VAR review.

Palace did, however, level on 35 minutes as Eddie Nketiah found the overlapping Tyrick Mitchell, who fired past Bernd Leno at his near post.

But Fulham edged their noses back in front before half-time, with Cesar Palacios slotting home his first goal in English football after Dean Henderson could only parry King's deflected centre.

Palace equalised for a second time in fortuitous fashion nine minutes into the second half. Gonzalo Garcia's attempted clearance went straight to Mitchell, whose initial drive was blocked, and he unwittingly helped the ball back towards goal, with the Spaniard unable to keep it out on the line.

The Eagles then completed the turnaround with what proved to be the winning goal on 77 minutes. Leno denied Anan Khalaili, but the ball ultimately broke kindly for Chilwell, who volleyed into an empty net to seal all three points.

Palace's left-backs come up trumps as Sage gets off the mark

Palace ultimately came out on top in a five-goal thriller between two sides still seeking their first points of the new season, which they had both begun with back-to-back defeats.

Stretching back to last season, Palace had gone nine league games without winning, and things did not look promising as Fulham made the brighter start.

They had sounded an early warning when Timothy Castagne fired wide in the fourth minute, before King's deflected strike put them ahead seven minutes later.

To their credit, though, Palace did not let their heads drop. Along with Kamada's disallowed goal, they had gone close on a couple of occasions, before Mitchell drew them level.

The left-back had not scored in the Premier League for just under a year. Yet he made it two goals in the space of 20 minutes when he equalised again early in the second half, after Palacios had restored Fulham's advantage.

Then, it was the man who replaced Mitchell that grabbed the winner, with Chilwell in the right place at the right time to score the game's decisive goal within just three minutes of his introduction.

It means Sage has his first points since replacing Oliver Glasner, though the wait goes on for opposite number Alvaro Arbeloa.

There is certainly no cause for panic in Fulham's ranks just yet. However, this is the third time they have started a top-flight campaign with three successive defeats, and on the previous two occasions – in 1951-52 and 2020-21 – the Cottagers went on to be relegated.