Match Report
Tottenham Hotspur (0) 1-1 (0) Fulham
Premier League Match Day 13 24/25 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium,,
Sunday 1st December 2024 KO: 13:30
Referee:
Darren Bond (Lancashire)
|
Fulham came from behind to claim a deserved draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Having been much the better side in a first half which saw Alex Iwobi hit the crossbar, we went behind against the run of play after the restart when Brennan Johnson finished off a swift counter attack.
But the boys rallied strongly and restored parity when Tom Cairney curled a beautiful finish past Fraser Forster, who had been Spurs’ best player.
An eventful afternoon for Cairney then saw him sent off when VAR thought his foul on Dejan Kulusevski could be considered serious foul play, but it didn’t impact the result as Fulham’s unbeaten run in London derbies extended to an eighth match.
There were two changes to the side that were beaten by Wolves eight days earlier, with Issa Diop replacing Joachim Andersen at centre-back, and a well again Sander Berge slotting in for Andreas Pereira in midfield.
With Andersen and fellow centreback Jorge Cuenca both injured, England youth international Samuel Amissah was named on the substitutes bench for the first time, while another first saw Antonee Robinson named captain.
The home side should have been in front inside the first minute when their high press presented a chance for Heung Min Son, but Bernd Leno got his positioning spot on to deny the Spurs skipper with an outstretched leg.
| Match Stats |
Tottenham |
Fulham |
| Goals |
(0) 1 |
1 (0) |
|
| Scorers |
Johnson 54 |
Cairney 67 |
| , |
| Goal attempts |
8 |
14 |
| On target |
3 |
6 |
| Shooting Accuracy |
38% |
43% |
| Possession |
51% |
49% |
| Passes |
481 |
454 |
| Passes Success |
87% |
85% |
| Corners |
7 |
11 |
| Tackles |
16 |
16 |
| Tackles Success |
56% |
63% |
| Saves |
5 |
2 |
| Fouls |
4 |
14 |
| Offsides |
1 |
1 |
| Yellows |
0 |
1 |
| Reds |
0 |
1 |
| source: SkySports |
Fulham then caused a few problems of our own, with Saša Lukic seeing a free-kick deflect over, before his corner picked out the run of Raul Jimenez, only for the striker to nod off target at full pelt.
The Mexican’s movement created another promising opening in the 17th minute, when he ran onto Iwobi’s lovely scoop over the top, but Forster was out quickly to smother.
Lukic’s corners were proving dangerous, with Diop, Calvin Bassey and Berge all having half a sight of goal from the same set piece, but the home defence managed to block all three attempts.
Marco Silva’s men were enjoying the better of things, but Pedro Porro gave a reminder of Spurs’ threat with an angled low strike from 20 yards that needed deflecting behind.
The Spurs rightback then turned creator as he sent a beautiful deep cross in towards Timo Werner at the far post, but Kenny Tete got a vital toe on it at full stretch to deny the winger an easy shot at goal.
King Kenny then had an impact at the other end, bending in a sublime cross to Raúl, whose volley into the ground was clawed away by Forster, with Berge nodding wide from the subsequent corner.
It was Leno’s turn to show good agility soon after, palming over a firm Radu Dragusin header from a Son corner.
Fulham deserved to take the lead with a sweeping move three minutes before the break that culminated in Iwobi arcing a sweet strike towards the far top corner, but it was put onto the crossbar by the faintest of Forster fingertips.
The home fans thought James Maddison had snuck them in front in stoppage time after Werner had won a free kick by running into Lukic, but the England man’s set-piece nicked a foot on its way under the wall and missed the target by inches.
Fulham started the second half with the same zip we’d seen in the opening 45, with Forster repelling a Diop header, and Tete firing over inside the first five minutes.
Spurs’ deputy goalkeeper Forster had impressed for his team, and they had him to thank again for maintaining parity when he smothered Iwobi’s first time strike on the spin.
He then caught a Raul header, but that was a much more routine stop.
With so many chances for the team in red and black, it came as a real sucker punch when a Spurs counter led to the opener, with Johnson lurking unmarked at the far post to volley home a Werner pick-out.
Silva switched things up by introducing Tom Cairney and Harry Wilson, and the pair were both involved in bringing us level.
Wilson’s switch found Robinson who slipped in Iwobi, the winger then laying off to Cairney who sw
Fulham boss Marco Silva:
"We deserved more from the game, deserved to win the game. Tottenham had good chances too, but overall we had more and more control of the game.
"It was a great first half from us, good chances, apart from the first minutes when the pressure of Tottenham caused problems. When we beat the pressure, we did well always. It's not easy to always be on top against Tottenham, especially with the front line and Maddison.
"The chances are the moments where we have to be more ruthless, then you can't give the chance we gave for the first goal. We need more responsibility from ourselves, but it was a great reaction from us.
"My view of the red card? We all know Tom Cairney, he's not a malicious player at all. Honestly speaking with you, I'm pushing him to be more aggressive in the right way of course. Looking at the images, you have to say he is unlucky. If you look just at the images, it's a red card.
"It would have been painful to have nothing from the game. In some moments we don't perform we want, but when we don't pick up three points we always deserved something more.
"Yes there were Tottenham injuries, Joachim Andersen not here, Andreas Pereira not here. If you want to talk about injuries for Tottenham look at other teams in similar situations."
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou:
"Tough game, tight game. Not a lot of openings for either side. Just a few sort of opportunities to score. We started the game well and should have been on the up and put the pressure on but they then had their spells. We got our noses in front, and we couldn't push on. Not for a lack of trying, the players did everything they could, but we couldn't push on. A decent strike for their goal."
On boos and inconsistency: "I didn't hear that, if that's the case. I'm not talking about the supporters, I've had three questions on the Man City game and why can't we replicate that? We've lost significant players in seven days. It seems with this club, whatever we do well is used to bring us down in every opportunity.
"From my perspective, it's important we don't react to any of that and stay focused. I just sometimes feel like with the players we have at the moment, they are working hard to progress to where we want to be and we're still in good shape. A decent position in the league, Carabao Cup and Europe. We're still focused on continuing to develop.".
Tottenham Hotspur: Forster, Porro, Dragusin, Davies, Udogie, Sarr (Gray 85'(Lankshear 96)), Bissouma, Maddison (Bergvall 85), Johnson, Son, Werner (Kulusevski 68)
Unused substitutes: Reguilon, Spence, Austin, Lankshear, Olusesi, Williams-Barnett
Fulham: Leno, Tete, Diop, Bassey, Robinson, Lukic (Cairney 62), Berge, Iwobi (Sessegnon 86), Smith Rowe (Castagne 86), Nelson (Wilson 62), Jimcnez (Muniz 78)
Unused substitutes: Traore, Benda, King, Amissah
Goals:
Tom Cairney 67 (WHAT A FINISH!
On the face of it, Fulham deserve it. They've missed the easy ones but this is a quality finish.
Robinson gets down the left and feeds Iwobi by the byline. He pulls it back for substitute Cairney who shapes to shoot.
Outswinging and into the far corner, lovely goal from the Fulham captain.)
Red Card: Tom Cairney (82,sfp),
Referee:
Darren Bond (Lancashire)
Attendance: 61,141
Fulham are next in action on Thursday the 5th of December at home to Brighton and Hove Albion