Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Fulham

Fulham came from behind to claim a deserved draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Having been much the better side in a first half which saw Alex Iwobi hit the crossbar, we went behind against the run of play after the restart when Brennan Johnson finished off a swift counter-attack.

But the boys rallied strongly and restored parity when Tom Cairney curled a beautiful finish past Fraser Forster – who had been Spurs’ best player.

An eventful afternoon for Cairney then saw him sent off when VAR thought his foul on Dejan Kulusevski could be considered serious foul play, but it didn’t impact the result as Fulham’s unbeaten run in London derbies extended to an eighth match.

There were two changes to the side that were beaten by Wolves eight days earlier, with Issa Diop replacing Joachim Andersen at centre-back, and a well-again Sander Berge slotting in for Andreas Pereira in midfield. With Andersen and fellow centre-back Jorge Cuenca both injured, England youth international Samuel Amissah was named on the substitutes bench for the first time, while another first saw Antonee Robinson named captain.

The home side should have been in front inside the first minute when their high press presented a chance for Heung-Min Son, but Bernd Leno got his positioning spot on to deny the Spurs skipper with an outstretched leg.

Fulham then caused a few problems of our own, with Saša Lukić seeing a free-kick deflect over, before his corner picked out the run of Raúl Jiménez, only for the striker to nod off target at full pelt.

The Mexican’s movement created another promising opening in the 17^th minute, when he ran onto Iwobi’s lovely scoop over the top, but Forster was out quickly to smother.

Lukić’s corners were proving dangerous, with Diop, Calvin Bassey and Berge all having half a sight of goal from the same set-piece, but the home defence managed to block all three attempts.

Marco Silva’s men were enjoying the better of things, but Pedro Porro gave a reminder of Spurs’ threat with an angled low strike from 20 yards that needed deflecting behind.

The Spurs right-back then turned creator as he sent a beautiful deep cross in towards Timo Werner at the far post, but Kenny Tete got a vital toe on it at full stretch to deny the winger an easy shot at goal.

King Kenny then had an impact at the other end, bending in a sublime cross to Raúl, whose volley into the ground was clawed away by Forster, with Berge nodding wide from the subsequent corner.

It was Leno’s turn to show good agility soon after, palming over a firm Radu Dragusin header from a Son corner.

Fulham deserved to take the lead with a sweeping move three minutes before the break that culminated in Iwobi arcing a sweet strike towards the far top corner, but it was put onto the crossbar by the faintest of Forster fingertips.

The home fans thought James Maddison had snuck them in front in stoppage time after Werner had won a free-kick by running into Lukić, but the England man’s set-piece nicked a foot on its way under the wall and kissed the outside of the post.

Fulham started the second half with the same zip we’d seen in the opening 45, with Forster repelling a Diop header, and Tete firing over inside the first five minutes.

Spurs’ deputy goalkeeper Forster had impressed for his team, and they had him to thank again for maintaining parity when he smothered Iwobi’s first time strike on the spin.

He then caught a Raúl header, but that was a much more routine stop.

With so many chances for the team in red and black, it came as a real sucker punch when a Spurs counter led to the opener, with Johnson lurking unmarked at the far post to volley home a Werner pick-out.

Silva switched things up by introducing Cairney and Harry Wilson, and the pair were both involved in bringing us level. Wilson’s switch found Robinson who slipped in Iwobi, the winger then laying off to Cairney who swept a beautiful first time finish away from Forster and inside the far post.

Spurs were given a leg up with six minutes to play when Cairney was sent off. A yellow card was initially given to the Fulham captain when he attempted to win possession back from Kulusevski, but VAR recommended a review and referee Darren Bond decided to upgrade it to a red.

The home fans were galvanised for the first time since their goal, and Dragusin should have given them more to shout about when he met an 89^th minute corner, but headed down into the ground and wide.

As seven minutes were announced, it was Fulham who threatened. Wilson won possession in his own half and ran the length of the pitch before poking a dangerous ball into the six-yard box, which needed hacking away by Dragusin.

That was as close as either side came to snatching it in stoppage time, as Fulham defended manfully to claim a point – the least our performance deserved.