Our sixth game of this fledging Premier League season sees us host newly-promoted Fulham tomorrow at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, kick-off at 3 pm BST. This will mean that half of our fixtures so far this campaign will have been London derbies, having drawn away to Chelsea two weeks back and West Ham this week.
Being back at home will hopefully raise our game a level or two from Wednesday night, and our morale will be boosted further by the return of Romero and Bentancur to the squad ahead of tomorrow’s match, as confirmed by Antonio Conte via London World:
“Cuti (Romero) is ok, he had two training [sessions] with us and he is in the team, and Bentancur is ok.”
“Lucas is in the gym, but aside [from] that, we are ok and working well ahead of the game tomorrow.”
It is unclear whether Gil is fit enough to return to the squad, but, even if he is ruled out, Conte has enough options to rotate this weekend should he feel the need to do so, with the Champions League kicking off next week.
For now, all eyes will be on navigating a tricky fixture against opponents who have made a solid start to life back in the Premiership under Marco Silva.
Indeed, Fulham’s only defeat in five games so far came at the Emirates last weekend. The Cottagers have not had an easy opening set of fixtures either (if there is such a thing in this division), having beaten Brighton and Brentford at home, and held Liverpool and Wolves to accumulate a respectable 8 points from a possible 15.
Unlike us, Fulham were rather busy on deadline day, signing arch-nemesis Willian, Welsh speedster Dan James, experienced left-back Layvin Kurzawa, and of course, as some of you will have noticed, Spurs old boy Carlos Vinicius. This match probably comes too soon for any of the quartet to start, but the visitors have no new injury concerns going into the game. Only long-term absentees Harry Wilson and Manor Solomon are ruled out, with Shane Duffy able to rejoin the squad after being ineligible to face parent club Brighton in midweek.
Irrespective of Fulham’s sturdy start to the season, this is a match we have to win, especially after our dropped points in midweek, whichever way you saw the West Ham result. Our recent record against the Cottagers is remarkable, having lost just one of our last 13 top flight matches against our visitors – the match where Dimi Berbatov came back to haunt us in a 1-0 victory for the visitors at WHL back in March 2013.
Here’s hoping for an improved performance, where we maintain our concentration levels, keep the faffing about at the back with Lloris to a minimum, and do our thing on the break. As always, voice your grievances, score predictions, and preferred XIs, and keep positive (if you can!)…COYS!
That was a match worth watching.
Coulda, perhaps shoulda been 6 or more for Spurs. But it’s another win and I am very happy… 😉
I’ve been waiting for Richarlison. He always brings energy to the match. He was on the right-hand side, and usually is more comfortable on the left, but energetic on both sides.
Son seemed far more energetic also. Signs that he’s coming around.
Can Conte’s staff teach out wings how to pass the ball with a bit of accuracy?
Not yet a beautiful match by our lads, but moving away from the ugliness of the last match. Moved in the right direction.
Now, COYS. keep the energy elevating. Become more beautiful and the three point matches will flow our way.
Much better overall. Just about hung in there.
Big weakness is the two wing backs. Take up good positions but can’t pass or cross. So many wasted opportunities. We are stronger when Perisic plays. Sessegnon is far too weak.
Why wasn’t Djed Spence on the bench? What is the matter with Conte and young players with enthusiasm?
We failed to offload Gil who is very disgruntled. Poor signing in the first place. Swapped with Lamela who was much stronger.
Still desperately short in midfield for someone who can pull the strings. Bentancur is neat but safe. Hojberg is busy.
Richarlison brings life and is more use than Kulusevski who slows play down too much.
Son was so unlucky today. He must keep his place.
Poor bench today with no decent attackers again. The transfer window failed us as usual.
Long wait till next summer. But we are workman like and we might just creep into top 4 again. let’s see how we get on in Europe on Wednesday. Will have to play our best team. Nothing much else sadly.
That’ll do, an improved performance. Much faster when attacking and looked dangerous going forward. Son is back on track. Unlucky not to score. Two points per game is the target, so we’re two points up on that. Pity we conceded so late but I do love a happy ending!
While in training, four hours every day teaching the wings how to play the way Conte wants them to play. I agree that this is a weakness, especially given the style Conte wants to play, Wings need to be able to pass the ball to the forwards in front of the goal. Both left and right are not doing well at this. Let’s hope Conte’s staff know how to teach these wings we have.
Next window is not next summer. Let’s bring in at least a wing in the winter window.
Agree with wentworth that Richarlison needs to start most matches ahead of KooLoo, who doesn’t provide the spark we saw from Richarlison today. Richarlison is world class and he’s wasted if he sits for 75 minutes each match. The man has reserves of energy. He doesn’t require rest.
Son looks like he’s well into a return to form. We all know he’s got the class.
The 2 x 1 score does not reflect the improvement over the level of play on Wednesday.
Agreed TK!
What comes around, goes around. The good luck turned to bad today as we should have been home and hosed before they scored and put the points in doubt. A much improved showing from Wednesday against a good team who hadn’t read the script on how to unsettle us. A really enjoyable watch for a change. Bring on the men from Marseille.
Spot on mate, looking forward to Wednesday now!
Very nice to see Sonny winning many 50/50 balls and getting more open space to play in. He seemed less reluctant and much more assertive getting the ball in transition and moving up field. It seems his higher intensity created some great chances to score a goal. What is the deal with Spence? Such hard work and a lot of money to sign him and he gets zero opportunity to get on the pitch. Is he just so unimpressive in training that Conte won’t even put him on the game day lineup? I figured that he had massive talent and would be certainly in the rotation for right wingback. It’s a shame he’s not even involved.
My impression is that Spence was signed as someone to develop for a bit down the road–that Conte doesn’t think he’s ready yet, but has a large upside. DL likes this kind of signing because developing young talent can make money in transfer saled. That’s been the DL ideal signing, with an eye to future selling. But Conte/Paratici must see him as playing after they train him.
Of course, this is only from reading a bunch of ITK reports online. Really, who the hell knows?