Fulham consigned struggling Crystal Palace to their fifth consecutive defeat this evening, thrashing the Eagles 4-1 at Selhurst Park.

Things started well for the hosts when Adrian Mariappa beat Brede Hangeland in the air from a deflected cross to thump his header past the returning Maarten Stekelenburg.

Fulham were level within 15 minutes, however, as Pajtim Kasami lit up the match with a goal of the season contender, chesting Sascha Reither's long ball down before unleashing a superb volley past Julian Speroni into the far corner of the net.

Steve Sidwell then challenged Kasami's claim to goal of the day when he smashed Bryan Ruiz's deflected free kick into the top corner with a first-time volley on the stroke of half time.

Darren Bent squandered a glorious chance to extend his side's lead shortly after the break when Speroni's poor clearance was picked up by Dimitar Berbatov, who back-heeled it to his strike partner. However, Speroni atoned for his error with a fine stop.

Berbatov was on the scoresheet himself from the resulting corner, glancing his header into the far corner having been found by Ruiz's delivery.

It was 4-1 just five minutes later as Palace again failed to deal with a Ruiz corner, allowing Philippe Senderos in at the back post to squeeze a volley just over the line.

Kasami almost applied a fitting final touch in the closing stages, but his effort with the outside of his boot was tipped over by Speroni as Fulham cruised to their second consecutive win in the Premier League.