Harry Kane On Target As Tottenham Beat Fulham 2-1
Tottenham maintained their unbeaten start to the season as they beat Fulham with goals from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Harry Kane.
Spurs threatened to score virtually every time they came forward and had ample opportunity to extend their lead further, firing off 23 shots, 10 of which were on target.
However, it was thanks to former Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno and a resolute Fulham defence that they were held to just two goals.
Hojbjerg’s slotted finish into the bottom corner after some nifty passing in Fulham’s box opened the scoring, before Kane headed home to double their lead after 75 minutes.
Fulham had been completely unable to get in the game for the majority of the 90 minutes with Mitrovic’s threat nullified until his 83rd minute goal – his sixth of the season.
Richarlison, making his first start for Spurs since joining from Everton in the summer, looked lively and had a goal chalked off for offside in the final minutes of the match.
Deadline-day signings Willian and Dan James made their debuts for the Cottagers but struggled to impact the game.
Tottenham lacked cutting edge in their 1-1 draw against West Ham on Wednesday and, with so many chances missed against Fulham, it was feasible that the same scenario could play out again.
They piled on the pressure in the first half with shots coming from all over the park, Son Heung-min smacked a shot off the bar, Richarlison had multiple chances to score his first Spurs goal.
Son saw an early goal chalked off when Kane was deemed to be interfering with play after going for a header from an offside position, despite the South Korea international’s looped cross finding the back of the net without his team-mate’s efforts.
But the form of last season’s joint-Golden Boot winner Son will undoubtedly be becoming a concern for manager Antonio Conte – he has not scored with any of his 17 shots this season, four of which came against Fulham.
He and Kane have linked up 41 times during their time at Spurs but the addition of Richarlison gives Conte another attacking option and allows him to be less reliant on that prolific partnership.
That said, Spurs’ defence were not really threatened until Mitrovic’s late goal and Leno was called into action eight times, the most saves he has made in a Premier League game.
Tottenham are undefeated in their last 12 Premier League games and have a 100% home record this season.
Fulham, meanwhile, will see this as a small setback in a solid start to their return to the Premier League, but they will face a tricky task against more London opposition when they host Chelsea on Saturday, 10 September.
