Fulham 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur

Substitutes Rodrigo Muniz and Ryan Sessegnon came off the bench to secure Fulham an excellent 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.

The Whites had the better of the first half without taking advantage, and then had to withstand an improved Spurs after the break.

But it was the introduction of two subs that proved the catalyst, with Muniz breaking the deadlock with a pristine pass into the corner of the net.

We’ve had some incredible moments at home this season, but you’ll go far to top Sessegnon’s first goal back at the Cottage, and it was some finish to wrap up the points, an absolute rocket into the postage stamp on his supposedly weaker foot.

Marco Silva reverted to four at the back for this one, meaning there was another attacking spot available which was taken by Willian, for his third full Club debut. Issa Diop was the man who dropped out.

After an opening quarter of the match that had tempo but lacked goalmouth action, Fulham wanted a penalty when two hands in the back from Djed Spence prevented Raúl Jiménez from connecting with Alex Iwobi’s peachy cross, but the referee saw no infringement.

The Whites were doing most of the attacking, albeit without testing Guglielmo Vicario, though the Spurs goalkeeper will have been glad to see Cristian Romero get a last ditch touch to divert Antonee Robinson’s cross away from Raúl who was galloping to meet it six yards out.

We did then witness a first shot on target of the afternoon when Ben Davies cleared straight to Timothy Castagne, whose first time effort was saved low by Vicario.

With five minutes to play of the half, the boys put together a sublime move. Willian spotted the smart run of Emile Smith Rowe who clipped the ball into Raúl. He brought it down beautifully to present a sighter of goal to Iwobi, whose shot was blocked.

Joachim Andersen then had a header from a corner diverted away from goal as Fulham continued to end the half strong.

Spurs had mustered just one attempt in the first half, but they trebled their tally within 10 minutes of the restart, with Dominic Solanke sending headers wide of either post.

The visitors had been much better in the second half and should have opened the scoring midway through it. Bernd Leno palmed Mathys Tels’ 20 yarder away but substitute James Maddison was able to chest the ball straight into the path of Solanke, who somehow scooped it over.

As we entered the final quarter of an hour, Willian bent a gorgeous curling effort agonisingly wide of the far stick from range, after Vicario was called into action to punch away a wicked Andreas delivery following a turnover in possession.

Andreas had been trying to find Muniz with that cross, but the pair did successfully combine moments later to break the deadlock. Following good pressing from Willian and Robinson on the left, the latter dinked a cross into Andreas who laid off for his compatriot to squeeze a pinpoint low strike beyond the reach of Vicario and inside the post.

With a couple of minutes to play, Sessegnon was brought on for Willian, and he needed mere seconds to settle the contest. Running onto a long ball, he grappled with Ben Davies – who did his utmost to foul his former teammate – on the edge of the box, but showed incredible strength to maintain his footing before firing a rocket into the top corner with his right foot. His celebrations were muted out of respect for his ex-club, but the same could not be said for an ecstatic Hammy End, who could not have been happier for one of their favourite sons.

Muniz then drew a save from Vicario as Fulham tried to add even more gloss to the scoreline.

Solanke thought he’d grabbed a consolation in stoppage time with a good angled finish, but Leno showed remarkable agility to get down and maintain the clean sheet, ensuring there were no blemishes on a fine afternoon by the Thames as Fulham moved up to eighth in the Premier League.