In what was supposed to be the swansong for Tottenham Hotspur’s stay at Wembley Stadium before last week’s announcement, Spurs used the final thirty minutes of the match to dispatch a pesky Fulham side by the final score of 3-1. Tottenham’s first chance came in the sixth minute as Kieran Trippier crossed a ball into the mixer. After a couple of headers to keep the ball alive, Ben Davies crossed it to wide open Lucas Moura. His headed attempt went wide of the post, though, keeping the match scoreless. Davies may have been offside on the play, but the flag had stayed down.
Not thirty seconds later, a miscue by Fulham gave Lucas a one-on-one with Fulham keeper Fabricio, but a heavy touch resulted in Fabricio breaking up the play and drawing a foul to end the threat. Spurs controlled the traffic for much of the first twenty minutes, pumping cross after cross into the box, but Fulham were up to the task of clearing each one. Spurs eventually got another chance in the 23rd minute as a cross for Dele bounced off his chest and bounced to a streaking Christian Eriksen. The Danish International one-timed his shot and got plenty of pace on it, but it was well wide of the post.
Fulham finally got a chance to get on the score sheet on a counter attack. A good pass against the grain found midfielder Tom Cairney, who fired a low curling effort towards the post. Hugo Lloris was in perfect position, though, and made a diving save to keep his clean sheet in tact. A superb free-kick from Kieran Trippier and Harry Kane’s first Premier League goal in August turned the match in Tottenham’s favour after Aleksandar Mitrovic had cancelled out Lucas Moura’s first-half strike. For Pochettino this was not good enough and he demanded his side become more clinical if they are to become winners rather than just gallant runners-up. “In football we are here to win, not to come third or fourth,” he said. “Having a good World Cup increases your confidence and the trust in yourself. But it is important to understand that while many of our players had an excellent World Cup only Hugo Lloris won it.”
