Match Preview: Fulham v Spurs

THFC1882 presents a guest preview of Spurs visit to Fulham by Ciaran Griggs:

Premier League; Craven Cottage; Sunday 6th November; 1600 KO. Sky Sports 1/HD1

Before getting into detailed discussion about the likely lineups, tactics and outcome of yet another Sunday afternoon Spurs match, let’s get one thing out of the way first. Yes, Martin Jol is an ex-Spurs manager and yes, he was genuinely liked when at Spurs. Reading some of the tweets and Spurs comments from earlier this year though, you would think that he had taken us into the Champions League. He came close, but he didn’t achieve it. Coupled with that, when he left Spurs the team were an approximate 500 stone overweight, with 498 of those being Tom Huddlestone. Much like some advice I was given regarding girls many years ago, NEVER GO BACK. So can we move on now? Excellent.

Typically a tough match for us, despite the suggestion of recent results, Fulham are a team that swing through many peaks and troughs of form in a given season. For many years they are a team that are capable of beating the “big” teams quite comfortably at home. Equally, they have it within themselves to be demolished by a “small” team on a Saturday afternoon. So which Fulham team is likely to turn up on Sunday afternoon?

Fulham come into the match after a fairly average league run of 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats, including a credible 2-2 draw with Man City and a crushing 6-0 win over Premier League new boys QPR, our defeated opponents from last time out. Spurs on the other hand come cruising into the match with 5 wins and only a solitary draw marring our recent impressive record. Recent displays by the Lilywhites have been impressive and our front five is beginning to gel into a unit that is genuinely the envy of most of the other clubs in the Premiership. Which team wouldn’t be concerned about lining up against Adebayor, Van der Vaart, Bale, Modric and Lennon?

Fulham have a new front man for the fans to adore in their pre-season acquisition, Ruiz. A player that many Spurs fans coveted when he was signed, he scored plenty in the Dutch league but hasn’t yet fired in quite the same way in the Premier League. Fulham’s most dangerous player is likely to be their excellent attacking midfielder, Clint Dempsey. Dempsey has a proven track record of scoring in the Premier League, and his goal threat shouldn’t be discounted. Thankfully no Spurs fan is expecting a Rob Green-esque incident now that we have our own Mr Dependable, Brad Friedel between the posts.

Typically for a Jol side, Fulham play a fairly attacking team, going with a 4-3-3 last time out with Dembele, Johnson and Zamora spearheading their attack. Danny Murphy, an ex Spurs player, pulls the strings in the midfield. Though he is some way off his form of two seasons ago, Murphy still has the ability to hit a defence-splitting ball for his 3 strikers to chase down. If only we had a combative central midfielder to snuff out the Fulham threat…

Despite the absence of our own manager, Harry Redknapp, due to minor heart surgery (get well soon H!), the expectation is that Spurs will continue to line-up with a very attacking version of 4-4-2. Our defence should include The King in an unchanged back 5. In fact, the Premier League 11 pretty much picks itself at the moment. The back 5 and front 5 are anchored together by the new lynchpin of the Spurs side, the Duracell bunny that is Scott Parker. He gets more and more praise by the week and for this writer, that makes absolute sense. He gets better week on week and the confidence that gives the team is spreading. As Gareth Bale said after the QPR match last week, the knowledge that Parker is there to mop up allows our front 5 to attack with freedom and zest. The Lennon and Bale combination for the third goal last week was one of the best goals Spurs have scored in recent times, a combination of quick passing, excellent movement and a wonderful finish. With Modric pulling strings (and seemingly enjoying himself!) and van der Vaart in a brilliant patch of form, we have much to be expectant about as Spurs fans. Given Fulham’s midfield are relatively slow, I expect us to try and exploit the wings, using Bale and Lennon to stretch the Fulham defence. Bale and Lennon have been guilty of playing too centrally at times this season though I think a large part of that was a lack of confidence and form. Both are evidently “up for it” again so expect to see width. With Fulham stretched we have 2 possible angles of attack – hit the bylines and ping crosses for Ade to attack or cutting the ball back inside for our smaller, more mobile attackers to latch onto, a technique that has contributed 2 of Van der Vaart’s more recent goals.

I can’t see any reason to see anything other than a continuation of Spurs excellent run of form, with a 6th league win in 7 games on the card. Let’s also remember that whilst Fulham played a relatively strong side in their EL win over Wisla Krakow in midweek, we sent our kids and fringe players to Russia to see out a 1-0 defeat. Spurs are fresh and I expect to see some late goals as we win this away fixture 3-0.

COYS

Ciaran (@LordFIMM on Twitter)