Tottenham Hotspur fell to a third-successive defeat in all competitions as they were beaten 2-1 by Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday.
Kenny Tete and Harry Wilson profited from a disastrous opening period from Spurs, who found themselves 2-0 down just six minutes in after Guglielmo Vicario gifted the visitors a second goal when rushing out to prevent an attack.
Mohammed Kudus halved the deficit after the break as Thomas Frank’s side tried to stage a comeback with a much-improved second-half showing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But the damage had already been done and the visitors held on for a first away league win of the season and heap further pressure onto the Spurs boss.
Tottenham were hoping to build on what Thomas Frank had called a performance full of “soul and character” against PSG in midweek.
But there was little sign of either in the early stages at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in what was a calamitous start for the hosts.
First, Tete’s strike took a significant enough deflection off Destiny Udogie to wrongfoot Vicario after just four minutes.
Less than two minutes later, Tottenham fell further behind. If Vicario was helpless to keep out the first goal, he effectively pushed the self-destruct button for the second, rushing out of his box to prevent Raul Jimenez from getting on the end of a long ball out wide.
Under pressure from the Mexican, Vicario’s panicked clearance fell straight to the feet of Josh King, who laid the ball off the Wilson on the touchline. The Welsh international’s delightful first-time shot curled into an empty net amid a chorus of loud boos from the home support.
Micky van de Ven then produced a goal-saving tackle to prevent further misery, sliding in to stop the lively Samuel Chukwueze after the Fulham man had rounded Vicario with the Spurs defence all at sea.
The hosts looked more threatening as the half wore on but the scoreline remained the same going into the break.
Spurs continued to grow into the game after the restart, with Randal Kolo Muani heading narrowly wide from Pedro Porro’s incisive cross.
It proved to be something of a premonition for Fulham. Moments later, Lucas Bergvall found Kudus on the right of the box. The Ghanaian took a touch on the chest before unleashing a fierce volley that gave Bernd Leno no chance at the near post.
Suddenly it was game on. Jimenez cleared off the line from Bergvall’s deft header before Kolo Muani’s improvised back heel bobbled the wrong side of the post.
But that was about as good as it got for the hosts. Fulham saw out the game to take all three points, while Spurs were left to lick the wounds of a third defeat in a week.
