It’s going to be a lively London Derby this weekend as Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham will meet in a Premier League match. Both teams come in with different goals to achieve as they have different challenges.
In their previous 107 meetings, Spurs have won 55 matches while Fulham have won 21 along with 31 draws. Tottenham Hotspur confirmed the scheduled match on their official X handle;
In recent matches, Tottenham has been struggling in recent matches including in the North London Derby where they were trashed 4-1 by Arsenal. Their performance in the match against Paris Saint Germain was also discouraging as they were beaten with a 5-3 result.
On the other hand, Fulham has also been inconsistent with five defeats in six away games including having Bournemouth trash them 3-1 in their Premier League clash.
Still, Tottenham Hotspur has dominated their last meetings with Fulham with more wins but Fulham hasn’t been an easy opponent to contend with. This will make the game a tight but interesting one.
In a pre match press conference which was shared on Spurs official X handle, their head coach, Thomas Frank spoke ahead of the match. He talked about the progress of his team and readiness for the match which would be different from PSG,
That’s the beauty of it. We are facing a completely different game on Saturday, a game where we hopefully will be more on the ball and then need to, how can you say, open Fulham up. I think actually Fulham, maybe they don’t have the points they maybe want, but I’ve watched a lot of their games and watch even more now, and they’ve performed well. I think they’ve been quite unlucky with some of the results, so that will be a different challenge, but that we’re up for, looking forward to it, I’m happy. I’m pleased with the performance and response we got from the players against PSG. I think we did the aggressivity in the high pressure, the forwardness, the intensity we played with, should have earned us a point of points against PSG, but a bit of randomness to set piece these goals we can’t concede and some game management that we didn’t, and that’s the bit we need to learn from. We said from the beginning when I walked in the club, every decision I take is to do everything I can to win the next game, but it’s for the long run. If you can’t build something that lasts, it doesn’t matter. I’m very aware that I need to win tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and the day after, the day after tomorrow, and the day after the day, and so on. That’s what it’s all about. I think football is extremely fascinating, and it’s so complex that we all try to analyse and understand it. Look at Liverpool now. A manager in Arne Slot I admire massively, stepping into the first season in the Premier League, he won it, incredible in every way, and now they are struggling a bit. They have a bad spell. I’m convinced he’ll find a way out of that, but I don’t think anyone predicted that before the start of the season. That’s just sometimes football. That’s the thing we sometimes struggle to understand.
Team News
Seven players from Tottenham Hotspur are currently injured. James Maddison has an ACL injury and won’t be available. Dejan Kulusevski is battling with a knee injury, Dominic Solanke is unavailable because of an ankle injury.
Ben Davies has a thigh injury, Yves Bissouma has an ankle injury and Kota Takai is out with a foot injury. Radu Dragusin is in the recovery process and may return to action soon. Cristian Romero is on suspension after getting a fifth yellow card.
For Fulham,
Softfootball earlier reported that Rodrigo Muniz had a hamstring injury and wouldn’t be back until early next year following his surgery. Antonee Robinson also has a knee injury and it’s doubtful he’ll play.
Possible Lineups
Tottenham Hotspur (4-3-3)
Vicario; Porro, Danso, Van de Ven, Udogie; Palhinha, Bergvall; Kudus, Simons, Richarlison; Kolo Muani
Fulham (4-2-3-1)
Leno; Tete, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon; Berge, Lukic; Wilson, Iwobi, Chukwueze; Jimenez
Fulham shared a clip from the last time they visited Spurs on their official X handle:
Prediction
It will be a tight match given that both teams have their strengths. The match could end in a 2-1 win for Tottenham but Fulham would still make the match tough for them.
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Fulham.
