LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) – Fulham put a sizeable dent in Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League top-four hopes as in-form Rodrigo Muniz’s double earned them an impressive 3-0 victory at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
Tottenham would have moved above Aston Villa into fourth place in the standings with a win but, apart from a brief spell before halftime, were lackadaisical and could have no complaints.
Muniz broke the deadlock in the 42nd minute and scored again just past the hour mark to finish off Tottenham after Sasa Lukic had doubled Fulham’s lead shortly after the interval.
It completed a notable home double for Fulham over Tottenham after they also knocked them out of the League Cup and was their first league win against the north Londoners in their last 10 meetings.
Tottenham remain in fifth place with 53 points from 28 games while Fulham are in 12th spot with 38 points from 29 games.
A 4-0 win at Villa last week had given Tottenham momentum in the race for Champions League qualification but they came back down to earth with the sort of capitulation their fans hoped had become a thing of the past since Ange Postecoglou took charge.
“In the second half we didn’t get to grips with the game. The intensity dropped,” Postecoglou said.
“Our final third play wasn’t great. But it’s more the overall play that was disappointing. There are things we’ve done all year we’ve prided ourselves on, our intensity and tempo, but that wasn’t there in the second half.
“We couldn’t get any control or traction in the game.”
The only surprise in a chance-packed first half was that it remained scoreless for 42 minutes.
SMART SAVES
Fulham started with far more urgency than their visitors, with Andreas Pereira in the thick of the action.
He almost scored with Fulham’s first attack, his shot deflecting off Cristian Romero and fizzing wide. Soon afterwards, when Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario parried a low cross into his path, he again was denied by Romero’s block.
Vicario also made smart saves from Lukic and Willian before Tottenham finally began to offer some threat.
Son Heung-min blazed one chance over, Brennan Johnson shot straight at Bernd Leno after a slick passing move and Radu Dragusin, making his first start for Spurs, dragged an effort well wide having found himself in a great position.
James Maddison also went close for the visitors but Fulham went ahead when Antonee Robinson’s superb low cross took out the entire Tottenham defence and Muniz’s touch was perfect before drilling his shot across Vicario and into the net.
It took only four minutes of the second half for Fulham to double their lead as Alex Iwobi fed a pass to the overlapping Timothy Castagne and his low cross was touched in by Lukic.
Tottenham were reeling and were on the canvas just past the hour mark as 22-year-old Brazilian Muniz poached his second goal of the game and seventh in his last seven, bundling in after Calvin Bassey’s shot hit the post.
Postecoglou’s side were spared further embarrassment a minute later when Joao Palhinha’s shot was glanced in by substitute Raul Jimenez but he was ruled offside.
Substitutes Richarlison and Timo Werner had some late chances for Tottenham whose run of scoring in 38 successive league games came to a disappointing end.
For Fulham it was another joyful day on the banks of the River Thames as they secured their ninth home win of the season.
“A great win for us,” manager Marco Silva said. “We were the best team on the pitch and deserved the three points against a really good side.”
