Tottenham missed the chance to move into the Premier League top four as Rodrigo Muniz scored two more goals to fire Fulham to an impressive victory at Craven Cottage.
Brazilian Muniz found the net either side of Sasa Lukic’s first strike for the Cottagers to take his total to seven goals in his past seven games.
The striker slotted home in the first half after controlling Antonee Robinson’s cross and then reacted quickest to bundle in the loose ball at a second-half corner in a fully deserved win for the home side.
Spurs, who would have gone above fourth-placed Aston Villa with victory, were surprisingly lacklustre from the outset. They would have gone behind early on if not for blocks by Radu Dragusin and Cristian Romero to deny Andreas Pereira, while Guglielmo Vicario also saved well from Lukic.
James Maddison shot narrowly wide in the first half and Timo Werner failed to convert with the goal gaping in the second as Ange Postecoglou’s side failed to back up impressive wins over Crystal Palace and Villa in the previous two games.
Villa will regain their five-point cushion on Sunday if they win at West Ham.
Fulham, meanwhile, remain 12th but are themselves only five points adrift of the Hammers in seventh.
Sorry Spurs disappoint
The rampant 4-0 win at Villa Park seemed to give Spurs all of the momentum in the race for the top four and a guaranteed place in the Champions League next season.
For all of the good in that win, this performance was equally bad – Spurs failing to apply more pressure to Villa when given the luxury of playing a day earlier.
The visitors started slowly and conceded a sloppy goal three minutes before half-time. Then, rather than grabbing the initiative after the break, they emerged in similarly timid fashion and Lukic converted within four minutes.
Crucially, Postecoglou was missing centre-back Micky van de Ven because of injury. The last time he was ruled out Spurs embarked on a four-game winless run.
In the Dutchman’s absence, January signing Dragusin was given a first start but the Romanian allowed Muniz to drift into too much space for the opener and was beaten to the bouncing ball for the third.
Postecoglou made a triple change in the second half and his side briefly improved, only for Werner’s finishing touch to desert him after goals in his previous two games. That miss ensured failed to score in a Premier League game for the first time under the Australian manager.
Next for them is a home game against Luton when they will look to make sure this can be put down as a bad day.
Muniz does it again
Muniz, 22, only scored twice on loan in the Championship at Middlesbrough last season. Two more goals here made him Fulham’s top scorer, despite not finding the net until the first week of February.
They were two different strikes but both showed his poacher’s instinct as became the first Fulham player to score in four consecutive Premier League home matches.
His run of form has come with a succession of starts after Raul Jimenez was injured. The Mexican is now fit again – he replaced Muniz in the second half after the match-winner took a knock in scrambling in the second – but faces a tough task to win back his place.
Fulham had lost 14 of their past 16 Premier League games against Tottenham and were winless in their past nine. This victory could not have been more deserved.
Lukic’s goal was also a fine move with Timothy Castagne charging forward from right-back to cross into the middle. The Serb’s finish was fortunate, the ball deflecting in off his knee, but he still rightly wheeled away in celebration.
-BBC
