Three Things to Look for in Tottenham at Fulham in EPL

As Tottenham Hotspur visits Craven Cottage on Thursday, Spurs will be looking to get one back on Fulham following a draw in their first meeting. However, since that draw, Fulham is a much-improved team and it will be no walk-over for Tottenham, despite the Cottagers’ place in the relegation zone. So what can we look for in yet another London derby?

Fulham are hard to break down

As a newly promoted team to the Premier League, Fulham started the season with an open style and paid dearly for it. Over the first three matches of the season, Fulham conceded 10 goals but has only conceded more than 2 goals in a match once since. With 32 total goals conceded Fulham has only conceded 22 goals in the last 23 matches.

Fulham now has eight clean sheets on the season, the same as Tottenham. Over the last five matches, Fulham is unbeaten and has conceded only 1 goal in that time. Further, the Cottagers now have five clean sheets since the turn of the new year. The early naivety that was costing Fulham is long gone and the team is tough to score against.

The defensive success is not because the Cottagers park the bus. Rather, Fulham is going to go at Tottenham and try to play some possession and make a game of it, particularly at home. This has led to more goals being conceded at home and for a team struggling to score – like Fulham – they are not likely drawing their way out of the relegation zone.

What this all means is Tottenham will have chances to break Fulham down. Despite their stellar defensive record of late, they can be had.

Tottenham need to hit Fulham between the lines

Two things are likely to help Tottenham offensively in this match, the first is the idea that Fulham will try to have some possession. We know Spurs can be deadly on the counter and they both want and need Fulham to stretch a bit. Second, Fulham is one of the teams in the league that is known to play an offside trap.

We have seen Tottenham with mixed results against offside traps teams this season, with the tremendous success against Southampton and less so more recently against Brighton. The big difference not for Tottenham is that the team is getting healthier and should have at least three players to fun the channels and look to get behind the Fulham defense.

Alternatively, if the ball is moved slowly from side to side between the center-halves instead of forward and diagonally, it will be a long day for Tottenham. That said, the through balls up the pitch as well as the crossfield plays to the wide areas Tottenham used to great effect against Burnley should also be effective against Fulham. Expect a lot of long balls and some fast play forward from Spurs.

Both teams need to avoid the dead balls

Neither Tottenham nor Fulham are exactly great on set pieces but what they both have in common is a tendency to concede a lot of them. Tottenham averages 12 fouls per match while Fulham averages 13. More than the averages is where many of those fouls occur. Whether it is penalty kicks or just free kicks in the attacking third Spurs and Cottagers tend to foul a lot in bad spots on the pitch.

Not including penalties Fulham has only 2 set-piece goals this season, but with only 21 goals as a team, that is still basically 10% of their production. With six set-piece goals, about 14% of all of Tottenham’s goals have come from set-pieces – not including penalties. If you start thinking about those percentages and the fact that there is likely to be some 25 fouls in the match, with many close to goal, a free kick or even a penalty kick could be the difference.

Last weekend against Burnley one of the most impressive aspects of the Tottenham victory was the fact Spurs just did not foul a lot. With only six fouls in the match, Tottenham helped control the tempo and avoided giving away cheap goals from stupid fouls.

For Tottenham to continue winning matches and eventually moving up the table, the Spurs have to avoid the dumb fouls and take advantage of the opportunities that come their way. Expect some opportunities Thursday at Craven Cottage, the question is if Tottenham can take advantage.