Fulham 2-1 Tottenham: Cottagers go ninth on earliest ever St Totteringham’s day | OneFootball

A disoriented Tottenham hit a new low on the earliest St. Totteringham’s Day on record after a standout performance from Harry Wilson inspired Fulham to a 2-1 win at Cravern Cottage.

The Welshman, who is still out of contract in the summer, volleyed home his ninth goal of the season from point-blank range inside seven minutes before setting up Alex Iwobi to slot home the second from distance.

Second-half substitute Richarlison headed in a lifeline, but it wasn’t enough to suspend the day it became impossible to finish above leaders Arsenal nor increase the slim four-point gap to the drop.

As it happened

The hosts caught Spurs out early as Kenny Tete received a low switch from Alex Iwobi on the left and had far too much time and space to float a cross in towards Raul Jiménez from deep.

Full debutant Oscar Bobb clipped the loose ball into the six yard box after it cleared the penalty area, and Wilson was on hand to thrash it home on the volley inside seven minutes.

Captain Micky van der Ven led the protests that the Welshman had pushed Radu Dragusin to the ground, but VAR checked and cleared the incident to leave Igor Tudor’s side behind again.

Chants of “We want our Tottenham back” from the away section rang around Craven Cottage and soon devolved into labelling the players as unfit to wear the shirt after half an hour as Iwobi doubled the lead.

The Nigerian was allowed to exchange a simple one-two with Wilson, then casually place his strike from 25 yards into the bottom left corner to leave Guglielmo Vicario no chance.

The visitors did manage to make some inroads behind the Cottagers’ defence, but speculative efforts from Randal Kolo Muani and João Palhinha were blocked with relative ease.

Fulham came mighty close to a third just before the break as Calvin Bassey lifted over a shot from no more than 10 yards out after Vicario missed the punch on a corner, with Spurs’ resolve increasingly fragile.

It hadn’t improved as the game got back underway and Emil Smith Rowe nearly took full advantage when he fired just wide with his laces after Bobb dispossessed Palhinha.

Tudor’s men inexplicably couldn’t find the net moments later from the Portuguese midfielder’s low ball across the face of goal after catching Bassey dwelling on the ball.

It was rinse and repeat down the other end as left winger Bobb’s cut back from the byline found Jiménez but a last-ditch block by van der Ven on the slide denied the Mexican a third goal in two league games.

Tottenham needed a goal quickly, and got their wish when Archie Gray was found on the overlap by wantaway Frenchman Mathys Tel and the full-back’s clipped cross was headed in by Richarlison.

Fulham dug deep as the pressure on Bernd Leno’s goal ramped up heading into six minutes of added time, as the Spurs players collapsed to the ground after consecutive defeats under Igor Tudor was confirmed.

The jubilant scenes in the home end as Fulham rose to ninth, five points off of Chelsea in sixth, were a stark contrast to those affiliated with a club now deep in a relegation battle.

Fulham analysis: Silva must do everything to keep Wilson

When you see someone walking past you in the street sporting this year’s Fulham shirt, there’s only one player that would come to mind: Harry Wilson. And what a season he’s been having.

To put his nine goals and six assists into context, Wilson has enjoyed his most productive season at Craven Cottage since Marco Silva’s side won promotion back to the topflight in 2021/22. But not all is rosy for Fulham fans, with the versatile attacker’s contract still set to expire in the summer.

Plenty speculated whether Wilson would be on his way out during the January transfer window, when Everton submitted a deadline day enquiry into how feasible a switch to Merseyside would be, only for the London side to quickly rule out any chance of that happening.

Needless to say, this was for very good reason considering the fact that Fulham have unsurprisingly moulded their attack around the Welshman, who linked up nicely throughout the 90 minutes with newer recruits Emil Smith Rowe and Alex Iwobi.

It would be difficult to imagine Fulham having half the chances at goal they did today without Wilson’s clinical edge and ability to pick out a pass in between the lines that he’s shown more often than ever before in the top flight, to the extent that he’s growing fairly synonymous with the European hopefuls.

But that could be about to change if he feels as though he’s earned the right to take on a new challenge, the only question then being where he would go. It’s being reported that a return to Anfield isn’t off the cards, with some pitting Wilson as a direct replacement for Mohamed Salah when he inevitably departs Liverpool.

The determining factor in the 29-year-old’s future at Craven Cottage could prove to be a simple equation: qualify for European football.

Spurs analysis: new shape, same result for Tudor

Igor Tudor decided a change in shape was necessary following their 4-1 drubbing at the hands of north London rivals Arsenal – but eyebrows raised in confusion at what exactly the 49-year-old decided to do.

Sky Sports said it was a back three with the more forward-thinking Pedro Porro, and Connor Gallagher at wing back. BBC Sports said it was a 4-4-2.

Regardless of how you look at Spurs’ shape, it was clear that their playing staff remain as undrilled as they looked under Thomas Frank before his exit.

They seemed reluctant to press Fulham, which proved costly for both goals, and showed too much urgency too late again as Richarlison was unable to single-handedly pull Tottenham further away from the drop.

It’s clear for all to see: relegation is now irrefutably looming.