Pierre Sage is confident that Crystal Palace's deadline day dealings are just the players they need to improve their squad after a difficult start to the campaign. 

Sage has lost both of his Premier League games since replacing Oliver Glasner at Selhurst Park, falling to defeat against Everton and Manchester City last time out.

The Eagles endured a busy final day of the transfer window, completing deals for Dario Osario, Quinten Timber and Ben Chilwell, with the latter returning to the club. 

Honest Ahanor also arrived on loan from Atalanta, while earlier in the window, the likes of Dwight McNeil, Anan Khalaili, Zavier Gozo and Oscar Mingueza all came in. 

Palace make the trip across the capital to take on London rivals Fulham this Saturday, and Sage believes the latest additions to his squad will be able to improve results. 

"We need this kind of player [Timber] because we have four players in this department, but they are a bit similar, we need one with more legs," Sage said. 

"We need a player with speed in this position and able to shoot from far. He [Osorio] scored a lot of goals like this.

"He [Chilwell] knows the club and the city and I know him. I like the player, I like the guy.

"He will give us experience, a really good player who can play in two positions, centre back and wing back. He will give us a lot of confidence because he is a happy guy."

Fulham are another team yet to win in the Premier League under their new manager, with Alvaro Arbeloa tasting defeat against Chelsea and Sunderland so far. 

Arbeloa is the fourth Fulham manager to lose each of his first two Premier League games in charge of the side, after Roy Hodgson, Slavisa Jokanovic and Scott Parker.

The Cottagers were another team busy on deadline day, welcoming three new faces, including Manuel Angel, who joined from Real Madrid in a reported £3m (€3.4m) deal. 

Angel is the third player from Madrid to make the move to Craven Cottage, after Gonzalo Garcia and Cesar Palacios, and the Spaniard is looking to reuniting with his former boss with the "incredible" chance of playing in the Premier League exciting him.

"It is an incredible feeling to have signed for such a legendary club as Fulham, the oldest club in London," Angel said.

"It is also an incredible feeling to compete in the Premier League, a place where every player dreams of playing in their career.

"Training under Alvaro Arbeloa is a real privilege. I've known him for many years, and he is a coach who brings out the best in players, gets the most out of each one of them, and most importantly understands them.

"I must give him the same intensity and commitment – or even more than ever before. I'm counting down the hours until my first training session. I give my all in every match and I always think of the word 'team'."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Fulham – Alex Iwobi 

Iwobi could make his 100th Premier League appearance for Fulham in this match, and he will be keen to mark it with a special performance.

Having played 123 times for Everton and 100 times for Arsenal, he will be the fifth player to make 100+ appearances for three different clubs in the competition after Gary Speed (Leeds, Newcastle, Bolton), Rory Delap (Derby, Southampton, Stoke), Gareth Barry (Aston Villa, Man City, Everton) and James Milner (Aston Villa, Man City, Liverpool).

Crystal Palace – ​Anan Khalaili

Khalaili became the first player to record 10+ tackles in their first Premier League start since N'Golo Kante for Leicester City versus Bournemouth in August 2015. 

He also had team-high totals for successful dribbles (three), duels won (15) and aerial duels competed in (three) against the Citizens last time out.

MATCH PREDICTION: FULHAM WIN

Despite being favoured in the pre-match simulations, Fulham have won just two of their last 13 Premier League matches against Palace (D6 L5), though both of those wins came at Selhurst Park in 2022-23 and 2024-25.

Fulham are also looking to avoid losing three successive Premier League London derbies for the first time since April 2023, after losing 3-0 to Arsenal in May and 3-2 at home to Chelsea on MD1 this season.

The Cottagers have lost to Chelsea and 1-0 to Sunderland this season. Only in 1951-52 and 2020-21 have they been defeated in each of their first three games in a top-flight campaign, being relegated on both occasions.

Palace, meanwhile, have won six of their last 10 away London derby matches in the Premier League (D3 L1), as many as they had in their previous 44 (D15 L23).

After defeat to Man City last time out, Palace are also looking to avoid losing their opening three Premier League matches of a campaign for the first time since 2017-18.

The Eagles have conceded at least two goals in each of their last eight Premier League matches – they've never done so in nine league matches in a row in their league history.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Fulham – 43.5%

Draw – 27%

Crystal Palace – 29.5%