Irish Examiner
A HARRY KANE goal kept Tottenham up with the Premier League early season front runners as Antonio Conte’s side held their nerve in a fractious London derby.
Tottenham remain unbeaten in 12, a run stretching back to the final six matches of last season and the first half dozen of this.
The England international scored his side’s decisive second after Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had given the home side a deserved first half lead.
Aleksandar Mitrovic then pulled one back for Fulham and Spurs skipper Hugo Lloris denied the Serb striker an unlikely equaliser. The best team won, but there were worrying moments for Conte’s men.
Fulham, statistically the whipping boys of London derbies, were fortunate to still be in the match with less than 15 minutes gone.
Bernd Leno made a good low stop from Kane, Kenny Tete made a goal-saving block from a Richarlison header and Heung-Min Son had a shot disallowed for offside. Captain Tim Ream’s block from Son’s next effort was possibly the pick of the bunch.
Tottenham’s frustration at not scoring was betrayed by a bad yellow card foul by Christian Romero Andreas Perrier, but Fulham had little to offer in response. They suffered further when Antonee Robinson limped out of the match with half an hour gone.
Fulham boss Marco Silva lost his cool with Tottenham counterpart Antonio Conte at that stage as the tension increased in a packed, atmospheric stadium.
The home fans felt Fulham were already time-wasting and referee Stuart Attwell, who was struggling to keep a grip on proceedings, booked Kenny Tete for taking too long over a free-kick. Maybe that is where the six minutes of added time at the end of the first half came from.
By then Hojbjerg had finally broken the deadlock with a well taken 41st minute strike after an exchange of passes with Richarlison just inside the area.
Erik Dier could and should have doubled Tottenham’s lead five minutes into the second half, but was leaning backwards as he lifted an easy close range chance over the bar.
Tottenham then showed why Conte does not want them playing too much elaborate football in their own half when Dier was caught in possession, resulting in a Mitrovic shot which had Lloris scrambling to tip over the bar…
