Patrick Vieira won’t be getting much sleep this week because this nightmare after Christmas was enough to give anyone at Crystal Palace insomnia.
Before kick-off, the Eagles paid tribute to Faithless lead singer, local boy and lifelong fan Maxi Jazz, a former Associate Director of the club, who died recently.
They walked out solemnly to his iconic 1990s hit single Insomnia - and then shot themselves in the foot so badly it will give Palace manager Vieira sleepless nights.
Bobby De Cordova-Reid gave high-flying Fulham a well-deserved first half-lead and three minutes later Tyrick Mitchell dropped his side deep in it.
Fulham were mourning the loss of World Cup-winning England defender George Cohen, and wore training tops with his name and number on for the minute’s applause here.
But while Cohen, one of the game’s true greats in this country, is rightly regarded as a hero, it was another full back, Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell, who played the villain here.
Mitchell’s dangerous lunge at Kenny Tete left referee Andrew Madley with little choice but to send him off.
And it just got even worse for Palace when James Tomkins was shown his second yellow card for a foul on Aleksandar Mitrovic shortly after half time.
Tim Ream then scored his first Premier League goal despite Mitrovic heading the ball on to his own arm in the build-up, and the Serbia star then added a third.
Palace boss Patrick Vieira won every Boxing Day game he ever contested in the Premier League as a player.
But his side made an awful start to this one and were booed off at half time with Fulham in complete control.
The danger sigs were there from the off as Eagles goalkeeper Vicente Guaita was forced to tip over a wickedly curling early free kick from Andreas Pereira.
Fulham are just not a team who like to sit back, whatever the opposition, and Marco Silva’s side dominated the opening exchanges, when it seemed they had the freedom of Selhurst.
Jordan Ayew did rattle the crossbar for Palace after a bad giveaway in midfield by Joao Palhinha and a driving run from Eberechi Eze, but they were restricted to counter-attacks.
Returning striker Mitrovic, a World Cup doubt before kick-off, was bullying defenders all over the pitch but getting little joy in front of goal.
So he turned provider instead, whipping in a peach of a cross for De Cordova-Reid to meet with a glancing header into the far corner after a perfectly-timed late run.
It was Fulham’s first goal at Selhurst for nine years and things only went from bad to worse shortly afterwards for the home side.
Mitchell took a bad touch and lost control of a routine ball, before jumping in and stamping on Kenny Tete’s outstretched leg as he contested the tackle.
Referee Andrew Madley wasted no time brandishing the red card and suddenly Palace had a mountain to climb playing with a man down for 56 minutes.
Still, the Eagles made it to half time without any more damage done, and came out firing after the break in a bid to get back into the match quickly.
Trouble was, any chance of a fightback disappeared when Tomkins, who had already been baited into a booking for a first-half foul on Mitrovic, got another.
In truth it was soft, but Tomkins did raise his arm and impede the Serbia star by catching him in the face.
After that, Mitrovic had a header saved by Guaita before nodding down a corner for Ream to smash home into the roof of the net.
Madley was sent to his monitor as the ball hit Mitrovic on the arm before falling to Ream, but he gave the goal anyway.
And Mitrovic made absolutely sure by scoring Fulham’s third from close range after a shot by Willian.