Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham side have emerged victorious from their trip to Craven Cottage and have now made it two successive wins on the bounce. A first-half own goal was enough for helping Spurs grab the three points, taking them to the 8th position in the Premier League points table.
Tottenham started the match with lots of positive intent, and Harry Kane and Gareth Bale came extremely close to putting them in front. The deadlock was finally broken in the 19th minute by an own goal scored by Fulham’s Tosin Adarabioyo. Son and Dele Alli were the chief architects of the opening goal of the night. The home side failed to trouble Lloris a lot despite enjoying slightly more possession.
VAR came to the rescue of Jose Mourinho’s side in the 64th minute when it ruled out Fulham’s equaliser for a handball by Lemina in the build-up to the Maja goal. Here’s how the Tottenham Hotspur players were rated in their slim 1-0 victory against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Tottenham Player Ratings Against Fulham
GK: Hugo Lloris – 8/10
The goalie was largely untested on the night and has now added a well-deserved clean-sheet to his collection for the season.
RB: Matt Doherty – 6/10
Doherty did not have the best of nights and struggled to counter Fulham’s tactics down the left-wing.
CB: Davinson Sánchez – 7/10
The defender had a mixed night of sorts. After making a clean and critical challenge on Loftus Cheek, the defender then made a poor clearance that almost spoilt the night for Jose Mourinho’s men.
CB: Toby Alderweireld – 7/10
Alderweireld made a few crucial clearances and seemed to have a smooth night at Fulham. The central defender was quick to react whenever he was called into action.
LB: Ben Davies – 6/10
Ben Davies could have put in a better effort at the left-back slot. The defender seemed to be lazy in shutting down his man and did not offer much support higher up the pitch either.
RCM: Tanguy Ndombele – 7/10
Ndombele did not seem to get many tackles right on the night. He did make a couple of good runs forward but not to much effect.
LCM: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 8/10
An impressive performance from Højbjerg, who was a commanding presence on the field of play. He made plenty of blocks and made life difficult for Parker’s men in getting their attacks going through the middle.
RW: Gareth Bale – 7/10
The Welshman had an average night by his standards and failed to deliver a performance like the one against Burnley. Mourinho brought on Lucas Moura to replace Bale in the 67th minute of the match.
CAM: Dele Alli – 8/10
Jose Mourinho awarded Alli his second start in the Premier League this season, and he repaid the manager with a flick past Areola in the 19th minute of the game. Eventually, the goal was ruled to be an own goal by Fulham’s Tosin Adarabioyo. Moussa Sissoko came on to replace Dele Alli in the second half of the match.
LW: Son Heung-min – 8/10
One of the best moments of the match came in the build-up to the first goal in which Son sprinted and delivered an effective cross to Alli.
ST: Harry Kane – 7/10
The striker should have opened the scoring on the night but missed a decent chance. Kane was once again wobbly in the box and went down under a tame challenge despite being in a good position. Another chance went begging when Kane’s stabbed effort was saved by Areola.
Substitutes
CM: Moussa Sissoko – 7/10
Sissoko came on to replace Alli and had a good run of 20 odd minutes at Craven Cottage.
ST: Lucas Moura – 6/10
A lot more was expected out of Moura during his 23-minute stint on the pitch after he came on to replace Gareth Bale.
CM: Erik Lamela – NA
