João: We Made Them Suffer

João Palhinha thinks Fulham’s comprehensive victory over Tottenham Hotspur was a just reward for the work put in on the training ground ahead of the match.

Spurs had not failed to score in a Premier League fixture all season, but had no answer to a rampant, highly organised Fulham outfit on Saturday evening.

Speaking to Sky Sports moments after full-time, Palhinha said: “Marco and all the staff prepared really well for this game.

“We analysed Tottenham, we knew that they like to play with [Pedro] Porro especially inside and [Dejan] Kulusevski more on the line and they are a team with a lot of mobility in the middle.

“I think we had control of the game, we had more shots, and I think we deserved it. All the team, everyone did an amazing game.

“When we compete against these teams we know that sometimes we will suffer but, this night, I think we made the other side suffer.”

Palhinha thought he’d made it 4-0, only for his strike to take the slightest deflection via the offside Raúl Jiménez, but he played a key role in Saša Lukić’s vital second goal.

“I think it was Willi that distracted the player that was marking me, and after I was free, and saw Lukić more high on the pitch,” he recalled. “It was an amazing goal, well played by us, all the team.

“We maybe could have scored one or two more goals, but the most important thing was the great victory.”