Thanks to Declan Mulcahy for this report:-

Sunday 1 December 2024, 1:30pm
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur (0) 1 Fulham (0) 1

Spurs scorer:-
Johnson, 54

Fulham scorer:-
Cairney, 67

Tottenham Hotspur (4-3-3):
20 F Forster; 23 Pedro Porro, 6 R Dragusin, 33 B Davies, 13 D Udogie; 29 P Sarr (14 A. Gray 85 (42 W Lankshear 95)), 8 Y Bissouma, 10 J Maddison (15 L Bergvall 84); 22 B Johnson, 7 H-M Son (c), 16 T Werner (21 D. Kulusevski 68)

Subs not used: 40 B Austin, 24 D Spence, 3 S Reguilon, 64 C Olusesi, 78 L Williams-Barnett

No bookings

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Marco Silva
1 B Leno; 2 K Tete, 31 I Diop, 3 C Bassey, 33 A Robinson (c); 20 S. Lukic (10 T Cairney 62), 16 S Berge; 17 A Iwobi (R Sessegnon 86), 32 E Smith Rowe (T Castagne 86), R Nelson (H Wilson 62); 7 R Jimenez (Rodrigo Muniz 78)

Subs not used: 23 S Benda, 24 J King, 35 S Amissah, 11 Adama Traore

Booked: Lukic (57 foul on Bissouma)

Sent off: Cairney (83 Serious foul play, foul on Kulusevski)
Captains armband: Robinson (Cairney 62) (Robinson 83)

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Attendance: 61,141

Referee:- Darren Bond
Assistant Referees:- Scott Ledger, Mat Wilkes
Fourth Official:- Samuel Barrott
VAR:- Craig Pawson
Assistant VAR: Ian Hussin

A dull draw on a dreary day

This was another less than optimal performance. It probably wasn't entirely surprising given that Spurs had lost on three of the four previous occasions this season when they had played a midweek UEFA Europa League game. Also they had only won on one occasion out of five when winning their previous Premier League match this season. They were missing seven players Vicario, Romero, van de Ven, Odobert, Richarlison (all injured), Solanke (illness) and the suspended Bentancur. All of these with the exception of Vicario and Solanke were missing for last week's fine win against Manchester City. Postecoglou also started with Kulusevski on the bench only introducing him for the final quarter of the match due to his recent workload.

Fulham had former Spurs player Ryan Sessegnon on the bench who made a brief appearance in the final minutes of the game. They also started with four players who have an Arsenal connection. Bernd Leno, Alex Iwobi and Emile Smith Rowe are all permanent signings while Reiss Nelson is currently on loan. Some of these players received a hostile reception from the crowd. Pereira was omitted by Fulham because he had given an interview in Brazil which suggested he was open to a move to another club. Pereira disputed the translation of what he said, but was still dropped.

Spurs had the better of the early exchanges. In the opening minute a misplaced pass by Calvin Bassey led to Werner setting Son up at the far post. He was unable to convert a good chance which was blocked by Leno with his legs.

By the tenth minute Fulham had become the more dominant team. Davies made a couple of important interventions stopping a run by Iwobi and then intercepted a pass towards Jimenez in the box. Then Iwobi set up the latter who found himself one-on-one with Forster in the box but the goalkeeper blocked his effort.

Rain had made the surface slippery causing Porro to fall at one point. There was a disjointed ten minutes or so possibly caused the conditions.

Tete set Jimenez up with a diagonal pass to the left and his effort brought a good save from Forster.

Following a Spurs corner Dragusin produced a good header which was tipped over by Leno.

A Fulham move ended with Iwobi hitting the bar. The final action of the half saw a Maddison freekick hit the post after being diverted by the Fulham wall.

There were no changes at half time.

Fulham dominated the early minutes after the break. Nelson was the chief creator. He crossed to the far post to Diop but Forster blocked his effort. Then he set up Iwobi but once again Forster came to the rescue and soon after saved from Jimenez.

Then Spurs moved the ball down to the Fulham end. Werner on the left crossed the ball to Johnson at the far post. He side-footed the ball into the net for a goal totally against the run of play.

After 56 minutes Lukic was booked for a foul on Bissouma. Three minutes later he slid in on Son. It was the sort of tackle that often earns a booking but referee Bond elected not to produce a second yellow card.

Fulham manager Silva perhaps sensing danger immediately replaced Lukic and Nelson with Cairney the club captain and Harry Wilson who has made a reputation for scoring off the bench. Cairney took the captain's armband from Robinson.

It wasn't long before Fulham equalised though it came from Cairney rather than Wilson. Iwobi on the left cut the ball back in the box to Cairney. He curled the ball towards the far corner into the net. (The last time he scored an away goal in the Premier League was for Hull City against Everton in March 2010!)

As the final quarter of the match began Postecoglou made his first change replacing Werner with Kulusevski. Soon after Muniz replaced Jimenez for Fulham. He had scored two of Fulham's three goals at Craven Cottage last March in Spurs 3-0 loss. However his form seems to have deserted him this season and he wasn't a threat.

With about ten minutes remaining the hero turned villain. In tackling Kulusevski, Cairney's studs raked the back of Kulusevski's heel. Referee Bond initially gave a yellow card. He was advised by the VAR official Craig Pawson to view the incident on the pitch-side monitor and having done so brandished the red card. This led to an unusual situation where Robinson wore the captain's armband for a second time. (Generally players give up the armband because they have been substituted).

Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray replaced Maddison and Sarr with Gray playing in midfield. Despite the man advantage Spurs were unable to create any worthwhile chances in the time remaining. In time added on Archie Gray suffered a knee injury and was replaced by Will Lankshear who made his Premier League debut.

Three of the players filling in for injured colleagues today, Forster, Davies and Dragusin played well today. The midfield lacked creativity with Maddison having a quiet day and Kulusevski was introduced too late to have much effect.

Fulham had more than twice as many touches in the Spurs box than Spurs did in their box. They created the better chances and this is reflected in their XG of 1.58 compared to Spurs 0.78.

This was Spurs first home draw in the Premier League since April 2023 against Manchester United. They had played 27 home league matches without a draw the longest run in the top flight since Liverpool had a run of 28 matches between April 1963 and September 1964.

Spurs are now in 7th position in the Premier League table one place down from last week's position which was the highest they have been this season (Omitting the first two weeks of the season when the table is fairly meaningless due to the number of games played). Moving higher up the table will require greater consistency notwithstanding injuries or other competitions.

This week The Premier League supports the LGBT+Q community with Rainbow Laces week

Note: One Spurs player did enjoy a memorable weekend. 21-year-old Josh Keeley is a goalkeeper on loan to Leyton Orient. On Saturday they had a home FA Cup second round match against National League team Oldham Athletic. They were losing 1-0 going into time added on. In the ninth minute of time added on Keeley went up for a set piece and scored the equalising goal to take the match into extra time. In extra time, during time added on Agyei scored the winning goal for Leyton Orient to progress to the third round of the FA Cup.

. John Ellis's eye-witness view.

. Spurs record in recent London Derby League matches

Follow @spursodyssey

. Squad numbers,appearances,bookings & goalscorers
. Read the preview for this game.
. All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats