Jean-Philippe Mateta's first-half header looked like it would earn Palace three points at Selhurst Park on New Year's Day, but Cairney's leveller meant the spoils were shared.

Fulham saw Raul Jimenez hit the post prior to Cairney's equaliser, and Timothy Castagne and Joachim Andersen wasted gilt-edged chances to grab the win in second-half injury time.

In a much quieter first half, on his 150th Premier League appearance for Palace, Marc Guehi was unfortunate not to beat Bernd Leno from close range after neat footwork in the area, but Palace did go ahead in the 39th minute when Mateta emphatically headed home Nathaniel Clyne's wonderful cross for his first goal since November 30.

Jimenez was desperately unlucky to see his well-guided header from Antonee Robinson's cross bounce against the left upright, though Fulham did restore parity thanks to substitute Cairney bending in a wonderful low effort from the edge of the box.

Castagne then saw a curling one-on-one shot saved by Dean Henderson in injury time, before ex-Palace man Andersen ballooned wildly over the top from eight yards shortly after.

Long-serving Cairney provided a real moment of brilliance to earn Fulham a point to kick-off 2026, and now each of his last three Premier League goals have come off the bench in London derbies – also netting against Tottenham in December 2024 and Brentford in May 2025.

Indeed, since the start of last season, only Brighton (23) has had more Premier League goals scored by substitutes than Fulham (22).

Mateta had been struggling for form, last scoring in the Premier League in a 2-1 defeat against Manchester United at the end of November. Moreover, he had not scored in open play since the start of that same month against Brentford – a run of eight league games without an open-play goal.

His effort did bring some light relief for the Eagles, who had not scored a home goal against Fulham since Jeffrey Schlupp netted back in February 2019. But Palace are still without a win in four top-flight matches, a run that stretches to six games when factoring in all competitions.