Spurs slip at Fulham
Tottenham wasted a chance to move into the Premier League’s top four as they slumped to a shock 3-0 defeat at Fulham, while Luton salvaged a crucial 1-1 draw with relegation rivals Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Ange Postecoglou’s side would have climbed above Aston Villa into fourth place with a win, but instead they handed the initiative back to their top-four rivals.
Fifth-placed Tottenham were punished for a sloppy performance as the in-form Rodrigo Muniz netted twice either side of Sasa Lukic’s first goal for Fulham.
A 4-0 win at Villa last weekend was expected to act as Tottenham’s springboard to finish above Unai Emery’s team in the battle to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Instead, the north Londoners crashed to a first league defeat at Craven Cottage since 2008 and failed to score for the first time in 40 games.
They sit two points behind Villa, who can extend that lead to five if they win at West Ham on Sunday (UK time).
“We were careless on the ball. It goes down as a bad day at the office but we don’t accept it. It wasn’t our normal levels. We didn’t have the same intensity,” Postecoglou said.
“We’re two points behind Villa. There’s so much football left. It’s about how we play.”
Fulham took the lead in the 42nd minute when Muniz cleverly drifted away from Dragusin as the Brazilian forward found space to meet Antonee
Robinson’s low with a clinical finish.
Tottenham’s defensive deficiencies were exposed again four minutes after halftime.
Iwobi was allowed to advance unchecked and he slipped a pass to Timothy Castagne, whose cross deflected off hit Lukic into the net.
Tottenham were in tatters and Muniz struck again in the 61st minute. Joao Palhinha’s header reached Calvin Bassey and when his shot was saved by Guglielmo Vicario, Muniz reacted quicker than Dragusin to stab home.
As the fight to avoid relegation comes to a head, Luton and Forest met in a vital showdown at Kenilworth Road.
Forest, beaten in their previous three games, took the lead through Chris Wood’s 34th minute strike.
But Luke Berry came off the bench to equalise from closerange in the 89th minute.
Third-bottom Luton, who blew a three-goal lead in Wednesday’s disastrous 4-3 defeat at Bournemouth, are without a win in their last nine games in all competitions.
At Turf Moor, second-bottom Burnley kept alive their faint survival hopes with a 2-1 victory against Brentford.
They are now eight points from safety with nine games left.
“It had been coming. On another day we could have scored more,” manager Vincent Kompany said.
Brentford have won only three of their past 18 league games and sit just four points above the relegation zone. cross