If there was ever a venue that was likely to signal the end of Fulham’s eight match unbeaten Premiership run, it would have been White Hart Lane. Fulham haven’t won here since 1948 and they were eventually overwhelmed by Tottenham’s superior combination of creativity and ruthless. Glenn Hoddle’s side are motoring nicely, they have now notched up ten goals in the space of a week, and – whisper it quietly – but the Worthington Cup might not be their only route into Europe on such impressive evidence.
The peerless passing of Darren Anderton, once a mainstay of the England midfield under Hoddle and one of his predecessors in the Tottenham dugout Terry Venables, made the difference here. Anderton buzzed beautifully around an overworked Fulham defence and had a pivotal role in three of the tour Spurs goals, with the home side eventually making a mockery of the fact that the visitors had gone nearly six and a half hours without conceding one in the top flight. Once Les Ferdinand, sufficiently recovered from the ankle problem that had forced him off early in midweek, had tapped in the 10,000th Premier League goal from close range – there was little doubt of the way this London derby would end up.
That moment would have frustrated Fulham, who had began in north London much the way they had played so impressively in an entertaining goalless draw at Liverpool in midweek. Steed Malbranque looked likely to cause another miserly defence problems with his probing runs from midfield and the visitors had already offered an early warning of their threat but Barry Hayles, a boyhood Tottenham fan, should have done better than fire over when things opened up inside the box for him.
For that lack of a finishing touch, Jean Tigana’s side were punished. A flowing Tottenham move, began by Simon Davies down the right, saw Anderton burst into the penalty area and supply a cross that the veteran Ferdinand swept home from a couple of yards out. That the 35 year-old was left completely unattended as he turned the ball past Edwin van der Sar would have irritated Jean Tigana and Fulham, who were perturbed by a couple of decisions that went against them from Neale Barry, soon succumbed further.
Chris Perry clipped a clever ball onto the head of Teddy Sheringham and the evergreen forward’s clever flick on ran to Ferdinand. The former Newcastle forward measured an inviting pass into the path of the onrushing Anderton, who located the bottom corner with a crisp drive from the edge of the box. Suddenly, Spurs were rampant and the best Fulham could hope for was a rather ragged exercise in damage limitation. Dean Richards might have felt sorry for the opposition: it was the only explanation for how he came to spoon a finish over the crossbar from a few yards out after Gus Poyet had guided an Anderton corner towards goal with his head.
Fulham found it difficult to breach a Tottenham back three containing Perry, Richards and the imperious Ledley King and they were rather more concerned with repelling wave after wave of home raids at the other end. Spurs scored twice in the space of seven minutes to give the scoreline a more comprehensive look. Davies capped a dominant display from right wing back with a wonderful goal, curling a lovely finish around van der Sar, before the substitute Sergei Rebrov conjured up a lovely strike from the outside of his right boot to make it four.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (3-5-2): Sullivan; Perry, King, Richards; Davies, Freund, Anderton, Poyet, Taricco; Ferdinand (Rebrov 62), Sheringham. Subs (not used): Keller, Gardner, Sherwood, Leonhardsen.
BOOKED: Ferdinand, Perry, Freund.
GOALS: Ferdinand (20), Anderton (40), Davies (71), Rebrov (78).
FULHAM (4-4-2): van der Sar; Finnan, Brevett, Melville, Goma; Legwinski, Collins (Clark 73), Malbranque, Boa Morte; Saha, Hayles. Subs (not used): Taylor, Knight, Davis, Stolcers.
BOOKED: Saha, Boa Morte.
REFEREE: Neale Barry (Scunthorpe).
ATTENDANCE: 36,054.
