Pajtim Kasami scored a contender for goal of the season as Fulham thrashed Crystal Palace on Monday night.

With the Cottagers trailing to Adrian Mariappa's early goal, Kasami collected a long pass on his chest before volleying home from an improbable angle.

A Steven Sidwell screamer, a header from Dimitar Berbatov and an acrobatic effort from Philippe Senderos completed a thrashing that few, including the visitors themselves, could have predicted.

It may have been a London derby in the Premier League, but expectations were low for this game given the poor start that both teams had made to their respective campaigns.

It didn’t help that both managers were already talking about the need to reach 40 points for Premier League survival, so labelling the tie a relegation dogfight may have seemed strange so early in the season but definitely justifiable.
 
No-one had told the Palace faithful though as their team’s appearance on Monday night football seemed to generate a party spirit with Dave Clarke’s 60s hit, Glad All Over, ringing around Selhurst Park moments before kick-off.

It clearly helped to galvanise their team as the Eagles swooped on a sluggish Fulham side and took a thoroughly deserved lead after only seven minutes, Mariappa rising above the away defence to head home from a cross from Jason Puncheon.

The words of their manager, Ian Holloway, “must not lose,” had stirred something in the Palace players as they closed Fulham down playing with exactly the kind of intensity that their manager had asked for.
 
Fulham weren’t at the races and they looked short of pace all over the pitch. Then their young Swiss midfielder Kasami collected a hopeful long ball from Sascha Riether on his chest, turned and volleyed an unstoppable shot into the far top corner.

It was a breathtaking goal, conjuring up images of Marco van Basten. Poor Julian Speroni in the home goal, who had been relatively untroubled for 19 minutes, was utterly helpless. It rocked Palace but they responded well and began to dominate once more.
 
Then Fulham struck again, right on the stroke of half-time, with another wonder strike, this time from Sidwell, who connected with a volley from fully 25 yards which flew into the same corner of Speroni’s goal. It was a lead that Fulham didn’t deserve even if the quality of the goals were quite incredible.
 
Within five minutes of the restart the game ended as a contest when lack of concentration in the home side’s defence allowed Berbatov to head home from a Bryan Ruiz corner.

Palace were understandably deflated and they switched off again five minutes later when Fulham defender Senderos stole in completely unmarked at the far post to volley home a fourth.

The first two Fulham goals may have been brilliant but the second two were caused by just the kind of lapses that Holloway had asked his players to avoid.

With luck against them and mistakes occurring in every game, Palace are clearly in serious trouble. On the plus side their fans seem intent on enjoying the ride, no matter how short it might be.

Fulham’s progress, however, was hard to measure on this performance as it took two potential two goals of the season to turn the tie their way.

Nonetheless Martin Jol's men rise to 14th in the Premier League table, while Palace remain 19th with just three points.