Fulham 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur

Fulham signed off before the international break with a resounding 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Craven Cottage.

A dominant first half was rewarded just before the break when Rodrigo Muniz clinically converted after being picked out by Antonee Robinson’s immaculate centre.

The advantage was doubled with the second half still in its infancy when Saša Lukić diverted home his first goal for the Club from a Timothy Castagne cross.

And the in-form Muniz made sure of the points just after the hour mark, reacting first when Calvin Bassey’s shot came back off the post, to nab his seventh goal in as many Premier League games.

Marco Silva made two changes to the side that was narrowly beaten in Wolverhampton a week earlier, with João Palhinha and Willian brought in for Harrison Reed and Harry Wilson, while Raúl Jiménez was back in a matchday squad for the first time since January.

It was almost a perfect start inside two minutes when Alex Iwobi won possession on the halfway line to launch a Fulham counter that ended with Cristian Romero blocking Muniz’s shot. The ball then span to Andreas Pereira who connected sweetly first time, only to see his effort deflect inches wide of the target.

Romero was proving to be a one man brick wall at the back for Spurs, doing brilliantly to repel Andreas’ follow-up after Guglielmo Vicario had pushed Iwobi’s cross into his path.

The Spurs goalkeeper was called into action again seconds later as we kept the pressure on with Robinson. His drilled cross found Lukić whose low drive was parried by Vicario.

All the attacking had come from Fulham, and some nimble footwork from Robinson to dance to the byline almost created the opener when he squared for Muniz, but some brave defending once again denied the breakthrough.

Spurs then went up the other end for their first chance, but Heung-Min Son fired over.

It was a good encounter, mainly in the Whites’ favour, with Vicario required again moments later to keep out Willian’s low strike, before Bernd Leno – captaining the side for the first time – made a similar stop to deny Brennan Johnson.

An overload on the Tottenham left then saw Johnson and Destiny Udogie nab the ball off Castagne between them, with Udogie then feeding Maddison in the middle. The England man went for placement over power, but thankfully rolled his shot marginally wide of the near post.

It had turned into a more even contest, which made Muniz’s breakthrough all the more decisive. Again it was Robinson creating things, bending in a beautiful cross that needed one touch for control and another to pass beyond Vicario for goal number six for the season for Muniz.

The second half started as well as the first ended. Fulham passed between the lines beautifully, with the ball eventually worked to Castagne down the right, whose cross was expertly diverted in by the thigh of Lukić, who had timed his run impeccably.

Castagne had been excellent, and he nearly added his own name to the scoresheet after getting on the end of Iwobi’s through ball, but Vicario sprawled to make the save at the expense of a corner.

Spurs’ fortune was short lived, though. João Palhinha headed Andreas’ delivery into Bassey, who smashed his shot against the post on the turn, with Muniz reacting quickest to poke home the rebound, despite being fouled by Radu Dragusin.

We thought it was four when Palhinha lashed in from a Tosin cutback, but it was disallowed after taking a nick off Raúl –just on for Muniz – who was marginally offside.

Spurs made a raft of substitutions which gave them some impetus, with balls across the face to first Johnson and then Timo Werner, but neither could convert from close range.

Werner did then get a shot on target, but he was kept out by his compatriot Leno.

Fulham were in total control, though Richarlison should have pulled one back when he fired wide from inside the box.

As we ticked into the 90th minute, Wilson nearly added some gloss with a rising effort, but it was palmed away by Vicario.

A fourth goal would have been nice – and richly deserved – but the buoyant Fulham faithful had to settle for just the three on a blinding evening by the Thames.