Consent Preferences Spurs Odyssey Premier League Match Report - Fulham v Spurs, 16.03.25
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March 18, 2025

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Fulham v Spurs, 16.03.25

Many thanks to Declan Mulcahy for this report:-

Sunday 16 March 2025, 1:30pm
Premier League
Fulham (0) 2 Tottenham Hotspur (0) 0

Scorers:-
Muniz, 78 Sessegnon, 88

Fulham (4-2-3-1): Marco Silva
1 B Leno; 21 T Castagne, 5 J Andersen, 3 C Bassey, 33 A Robinson (c); 18 Andreas Pereira 16 S Berge; 17 A Iwobi (11 Adama Traore 63), 32 E Smith Rowe (15 T Cairney 72), 22 Willian (R Sessegnon 87); 7 R Jimenez (9 Rodrigo Muniz 63).

Subs not used: 23 S Benda, 15 Jorge Cuenca, 6 H Reed, 24 J King, 47 M Godo

No bookings
Captain's Armband: Robinson (Cairney 72)

Tottenham Hotspur (4-3-3):
1 G Vicario, 24 D Spence, 17 C Romero (c) (10 J Maddison 68), 33 B Davies, 13 D Udogie; 30 R Bentancur (44 D Scarlett 86), 14 A Gray, 8 Y Bissouma (15 L Bergvall 45); 22 B Johnson (7 H-M Son 45), 19 D Solanke, 11 M Tel (28 W Odobert 77).

Subs not used: 31 A Kinsky, 23 Pedro Porro, 37 M van de Ven, 29 P Sarr

No bookings
Captain's Armband: Romero (Son 45)

Craven Cottage, Attendance: 27,182
Referee: Andy Madley, Assistant Referees: Nick Hopton, Craig Taylor, Fourth Official: Simon Hooper, VAR: Paul Tierney, Assistant VAR: Adam Nunn

Rodrigo Muniz returns to haunt Spurs

Fulham v Spurs, 16.03.25

Thanks to Andy Park for this picture

There was a sense of deja vu today. A year ago today on Saturday 16 March 2024 Spurs visited Craven Cottage and lost 3-0, ending a sequence of 39 games in which they scored in every game. Two of Fulham's three goals were scored by Rodrigo Muniz. Today Muniz started on the bench. He was introduced just after an hour and within fifteen minutes had given Fulham the lead. The outcome was another unsatisfactory result at Craven Cottage.

Spurs had played well on Thursday evening against AZ Alkmaar to progress into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League. Ange Postecoglou made seven changes from Thursday's team with Udogie, Davies, Bentancur, Gray, Bissouma, Johnson and Tel replacing Porro, van de Ven, Sarr, Bergvall, Maddison, Odobert and Son. A couple of the changes made sense with van de Ven being rested and Bentancur returning from suspension. However it seemed to be an excessive number of changes given that it was the last match before the international break.

The team Postecoglou sent out was decidedly unimpressive during the first half. Changes were made at the interval and things seemed to improve. However Fulham countered with their own substitutions and regained the initiative in the final quarter when they scored their two goals.

Fulham had lost 2-1 away to Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend. Marco Silva made a tactical change switching from last week's 3-4-2-1 to 4-2-3-1 today. It only involved one personnel change with one of the back three Diop dropping out and being replaced by Willian, who had recently joined Fulham again, playing on the wing.

The first half was a disjointed affair which took place mainly in midfield with lots of misplaced passes.

It can be quickly summarized as follows. Fulham had six shots, five of which were blocked and one on target. Spurs had one shot which wasn't on target. Fulham had an xG of 0.36 while Spurs xG was a mere 0.07.

Spurs only shot, after 20 minutes, was when Tel made a good run on the left and sent a ball towards the far post which Solanke couldn't reach. About thirteen minutes later an Iwobi effort was cleared by Davies only as far as Castagne and his shot was saved by Vicario.

Fulham looked the better of the two teams. Spurs were unimpressive with Bissouma being guilty of some errors. It wasn't a surprise when Bissouma and Johnson were replaced for the second half by Bergvall and Son. Johnson had been fairly anonymous during the first half. It wouldn't be surprising if Bissouma is deemed surplus to requirements at the end of the season and leaves the club.

Initially the omens were good after the substitutions as Spurs began to create opportunities. Bergvall crossed the ball from the right towards the far post and Solanke's header was narrowly wide. Son sent in a free kick from the left and again Solanke headed it wide. Udogie sent a dangerous cross across the box but no one could capitalise on it. A Bergvall shot deflected for a corner.

Just after the hour mark Silva began a series of substitutions all of which had significance from Spurs perspective. Firstly Muniz and Adama Traore replaced Jimenez and Iwobi. As noted already Muniz had done the main damage in the corresponding match a year ago. In March 2023 Traore had scored the only goal when Wolves beat Spurs 1-0 at Molineux.

Tel crossed from the right but Leno saved Davies' header.

Bassey was guilty of a heavy tackle on Tel after the whistle had gone. It went unpunished. Mr Madley took a very lenient approach throughout the match and no one was booked though Bassey could well have been for this tackle.

Maddison replaced Romero which resulted in Gray moving from midfield to centre back. Tel produced a nice curling shot from the right towards the far post which was saved by Leno. Then Maddison set up Solanke but his effort was over the bar. Spurs had now had eight efforts on goal in the second half without scoring.

Shortly after the 70th minute Tom Cairney replaced Emile Smith Rowe and took the captain's armband. It was Cairney who scored Fulham's equaliser in the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in December 2024.

Soon after Muniz had a shot which Vicario punched out. It fell to Willian whose curling shot was narrowly wide. Fulham now had lots of possession and were back in contention.

Pereira set up Muniz in the middle of the box and he scored with a shot to the left corner. Spurs didn't lack players in the box and the goal was due to poor marking. This was the 14th time this season that Fulham have scored in the final fifteen minutes of a Premier League game.

Odobert set up Son but his effort was blocked. Bergvall went down in the box under pressure from Bassey. It was one of those situations where sometimes a penalty is given and sometimes it isn't. VAR looked at the incident and decided there was no clear and obvious error. Son tried to set up Odobert but the latter couldn't reach the ball.

With three minutes remaining Scarlett replaced Bentancur while Ryan Sessegnon came on for Willian. The latter had a very good match for Fulham and departed to loud applause. Almost immediately the ball was played to Sessegnon on the left. Spence was out of position and there was only Davies on the edge of the box between him and the goal. He rounded Davies and curled a shot into the top righthand corner of the net. He didn't celebrate. He did something similar in February against Wolves in his first Premier League appearance since rejoining Fulham, when he scored within 58 seconds of coming on. There was a melee in the dugouts following this goal and a member of the Spurs coaching staff received a red card.

In the closing minutes Spence made a heavy tackle on Sessegnon which could have resulted in a booking. The latter had a header saved by Vicario. Son set up Solanke but his shot was saved by Leno.

In his 200th game as a Premier League manager Marco Silva beat a team which on paper is superior to his team. In the last three league games against Spurs he has won two and drawn one, after Spurs had won 14 of the previous 16 meetings. Fulham are up to eighth place in the table and could equal their best ever finish of 7th in the Premier League.

Spurs meanwhile are down in 14th position (only goal difference separates them from 16th). It appears that they will finish in the bottom half of the table for the first time in fifteen seasons. They have lost fifteen league matches this season two more than any team in the top sixteen. Only the bottom four teams have lost more matches. They are not far off their worst finish in the Premier League which was 15th in 1994. The last time they lost more Premier League games in a season was nineteen in 2003-04. With nine matches remaining this sorry record could be equalled or beaten this season. There are genuine concerns that Ange Postecoglou doesn't get the best out of his players in too many matches particularly in the Premier League against teams who are weaker on paper.

There is now an international break. The first match after will be a challenging one at Stamford Bridge. Soon after that will come the vital home and away fixtures against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter final.

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