Harry Kane has made a career out of being clinical in front of goal. Tonight, was no exception. The England captain drew level with Jimmy Greaves as Tottenham’s leading goalscorer and delivered a vital victory for the under-pressure Antonio Conte with a superb strike out of nothing that turned this London derby on its head. Fulham, who had dominated the first period, until Kane collected a pass from Son Hueng-Min, twisted and turned away from Tim Ream and found the bottom corner with a precise shot that still carried plenty of power, were taught the harshest of lessons.
Marco Silva’s side, fresh from last Sunday’s agonising defeat at Newcastle, were bright and progressive in the first half but were ultimately punished for their failure to finish good chances. Hugo Lloris was in fine form in goal, saving smartly from Bobby Decordova-Reid when the wily winger went for goal from more than twenty yards. The French goalkeeper handled an Andreas Pereira free-kick with ease and was then alert to deny Harrison Reed after the Fulham midfielder had burst onto a cross from Pereira.
Tottenham threatened sporadically with Kane curling one well wide and Emerson Royal then forced Bernd Leno into a good sprawling save at his near post. Willian extended Lloris after a swift Fulham break and Joao Palhinha headed disappointing over from a free-kick. But Spurs worked up a head of steam right at the end of the first half, penning the hosts back and forcing a succession of corners. Kane’s moment of inspiration – spinning away from Ream and finding the corner with a high quality finish – proved to be the difference between the two teams. But whether Son should have been able to find his captain with a clever pass was debatable after seeing the replay of his studs up challenge on Kenny Tete.
Going in at half time a goal down after dominating proceedings must have galled Silva’s side. It might have been worse shortly after the interval when Ben Davies glanced a free-kick back acros goal, with Kane denied by a remarkable relax stop by Bernd Leno. Fulham saw plenty of the ball but struggled to unlock a defence that has been castigated for not being up to standard. Here, on a freezing night on the banks of the River Thames, was cateneccio at its finest. Mitrovic fired across goal from a quickly-taken free kick but once again Fulham’s football became more fluent once Tom Cairney was summoned from the bench.
He almost made an immediate impact floating a fine ball onto the head of Mitrovic, who headed just over the bar. Tottenham’s blue line retreated deeper and deeper. Manor Solomon almost capped an impressive cameo with the equaliser – bending a brilliant finish towards the far corner, only for Lloris to extend himself once move and palm the shot aside for a corner. There was plenty of timewasting and histrionics but you had to applaud the heart of a Spurs side who ground out an impressive victory.
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno; Tete (Solomon 80), A. Robinson, Diop, Ream; Reed (Cairney 65), Palhinha; Willain (Vincius 87), Decordova-Reid (Wilson 87), Pereira; Mitrovic. Subs (not used): Rodak, Kurzawa, Adarabioyo, Chalobah, James.
BOOKED: Palhinha.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR (3-4-2-1): Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Emerson, Perisic, Hojbjerg, Bentancur; Kulusevski (Bissouma 90), Son (Richarlison 76); Kane. Subs (not used): Forster, Doherty, Sanchez, Tanganga, Lenglet, Skipp, R. Sessegnon.
BOOKED: Son, Romero, Bentancur.
GOAL: Kane (45+2).
REFEREE: Paul Tierney (Wigan).
ATTENDANCE: 24,190.
Thought we weren’t quite at it last night. We needed a little more energy and quality to break them down. BDR is a top guy and great squad player but you can see we’re lacking that top Prem class behind Mitro against the very best. We don’t have to beat Spurs but they were so negative and boring you felt if we could’ve found the drive from somewhere we could have got something. Maybe we could have made the subs earlier
Lets be honest, we were never going to get anything except for a 0-0. A lot of tired legs out there. Mitro looks very heavy and sluggish, if we really want to keep pushing for the top half the club needs to invest on 2 top players.
Once again our finishing let us down. Mitro’s loss of form or confidence is worrying as we don’t have a convincing alternative. Would have liked to have seen Solomon and Wilson given more time to try to break down Spurs’ defence but it was always going to be difficult once they took the lead. When was the last time Kane didn’t score against us? Sick and tired of seeing him singlehandedly dash our hopes. Having said that I still think we are punching above our weight and the current run of fixtures were always going to be tricky. No better time to bounce back than at the Bridge. COYW
Nick How can you say we are punching above our weight-thats so negative.We were superb in the first half and totally dominated the game but allowed a smart Kane finish.Second half Spurs sucked the energy out of the players and the supporters by playing everyone behind the ball in a 5-4-1 defence system and then playacting to run the game out.This negative set up is a credit to a good Fulham team .We need to break these tactics down.Trust in Silva-COYW