Fulham returned to winning ways in style as they stunned Tottenham Hotspur with their joint-heaviest defeat this season, a 3-0 win at Craven Cottage that keeps alive their hopes of possible qualification for European football.
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In-form striker Rodrigo Muniz scored either side of Sasa Lukic’s goal as they beat their London rivals to pick up their fourth league win in six matches.
It was also the first time Spurs have failed to score in 39 league matches as they missed the chance to move into the top four ahead of Aston Villa, who face West Ham United tomorrow.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
37 | +20 | 68 |
| 5 |
Spurs
TOT
|
36 | +12 | 63 |
| 6 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
36 | +22 | 57 |
How the match unfolded
Marco Silva made two changes for Fulham as Joao Palhinha and Willian replaced Harrison Reed and Harry Wilson. Radu Dragusin made his first start in Spurs’ only change, coming in for the injured Micky van de Ven.
Fulham got off to a bright start and almost made the breakthrough after 11 minutes, but Cristian Romero made a superb block of Andreas Pereira’s shot after Guglielmo Vicario’s parry of Alex Iwobi’s cross had fallen to the Brazilian.
Muniz missed a great chance to score in the 24th minute but failed to get any contact with Antonee Robinson’s cross. This led to a Spurs counter-attack, from which Son Heung-min narrowly missed the target.
Spurs continued to attack at a fast pace and four minutes later James Maddison teed up Brennan Johnson, but the winger’s effort was straight at Bernd Leno.
Maddison himself went close to the opener with a shot from the edge of the area that brushed Leno’s right post.
Fulham broke the deadlock just before half-time as Muniz showed great control and composure to score his sixth goal of the season from Robinson’s whipped cross. The Brazilian took the cross with one touch before firing the ball across Vicario.
The in-form striker became the first Fulham player to score in four consecutive home matches in the Premier League, with five goals in total as well as one assist.
Fulham then doubled their lead just four minutes into the second half as Lukic finished past Vicario in unorthodox fashion for his first goal for the club. Timothy Castagne’s cross from the right came off the Serbian midfielder’s thigh and flew past Vicario into the far corner.
The hosts continued to dominate and Muniz scored his second to make it 3-0. Calvin Bassey controlled a knockdown at a corner and did well to turn and smash a close-range shot against a post. The ball landed in the six-yard box, where Muniz got in ahead of Dragusin to poke the ball home, to become the the youngest Fulham player to score a brace in a London derby in the Premier League.
That was Muniz’s last action as he was replaced by Raul Jimenez after taking a blow in the act of scoring. Palhinha thought he made it 4-0 just minutes later, but the goal was disallowed for offside after the ball went in off Jimenez, who was in an offside position.
Ange Postecoglou made a triple change and Spurs should have pulled a goal but for two glaring misses. First Johnson missed a cross from Son in front of goal, although he probably would have been offside, then a minute later, substitute Timo Werner failed to divert Johson’s right-wing cross at the far post with the goal gaping.
Another Spurs substitute Richarlison had a chance for a late consolation but also shot wide. At the other end, Fulham substitute Harry Wilson broke clear and forced a good save from Vicario.
Fulham managed to see the game through and keep their clean sheet, their second in as many home matches, beating Spurs at home for the first time since 2009. They remain 12th in the league on 38 points.
Spurs stay fifth, two points behind Villa, having now played the same number of matches.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
36 | +12 | 57 |
| 8 |
Manchester United
MUN
|
36 | -4 | 54 |
| 9 |
West Ham United
WHU
|
37 | -12 | 52 |
| 10 |
Brighton & Hove Albion
BHA
|
36 | -4 | 48 |
| 11 |
Bournemouth
BOU
|
37 | -12 | 48 |
| 12 |
Crystal Palace
CRY
|
37 | -6 | 46 |
Club reports
Next Premier League fixtures
Key facts
This was Fulham’s joint-biggest margin of victory over Spurs in league football, beating them by three goals for just the third time (also 3-0 in August 2003 and 4-1 in February 1965).
Spurs have only kept two clean sheets across their last 19 games in the Premier League – since the first match in this run (October 27th), only Sheffield United (1) have kept fewer in the competition in this period.
Fulham’s Antonee Robinson has made the joint-most assists from open play by a defender in the Premier League this season (6), equalling Kieran Trippier and Vladimir Coufal following today’s opener.
Spurs failed to score and were beaten by 3+ goals in the Premier League for the first time since October 2021, when they lost 3-0 against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United.
