Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Fulham – prediction, team news, lineups

Bidding to arrest a two-game run without a home victory, Tottenham Hotspur host London rivals Fulham in Sunday’s Premier League derby.

Ange Postecoglou‘s team succumbed to a late leveller in a 2-2 Europa League draw with Roma on Thursday, while their visitors were slain 4-1 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers last time out in the top flight.

Match preview

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When stand-in goalkeeper Fraser Forster pulled off a last-minute wonder save in Thursday’s showdown with Roma, the destiny of the Europa League points had seemingly been decided, with Son Heung-min and Brennan Johnson‘s efforts edging Spurs ahead in a frenetic battle.

However, having been denied twice by the offside flag in the second half, Claudio Ranieri‘s team finally nabbed the leveller that their relentless pressure deserved, as veteran defender Mats Hummels crashed home at the back stick to conclude a chaotic North London night.

The 2-2 stalemate with Roma marked the second Tottenham game in a row where the net bulged four times, but all four of those efforts astonishingly went the Lilywhites’ way at the Etihad last weekend, where Spurs slaughtered a capitulating Manchester City side to rise to sixth place in the Premier League standings.

Only three points separates Postecoglou’s outfit from Brighton & Hove Albion, Arsenal and Chelsea before gameweek 12 gets underway, but the crushing of City represents the hosts’ only triumph from their last four matches in all tournaments, a sequence that also includes consecutive defeats to Galatasaray and Ipswich Town.

Tottenham have at least found the back of the net in eight straight home games across all tournaments since September’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal, one of seven losses that Postecoglou has overseen from 16 Premier League London derbies since taking the reins in 2023.

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Of all managers to have taken charge of at least 10 matches for Tottenham’s men’s team, Postecoglou is statistically the second-worst when it comes to Premier League London derbies – his 44% loss rate is only marginally better than Glenn Hoddle‘s 48% in capital clashes.

However, Spurs are hosting a Fulham side reeling from a Craven Cottage catastrophe at home to relegation-threatened Wolves, who fell behind to an early Alex Iwobi effort before going on the West London warpath through Matheus Cunha (2), Goncalo Guedes and João Gomes.

Having seen their three-game unbeaten run come to an end in truly disheartening circumstances, Fulham have fallen one point and three places below Tottenham in ninth spot, although Marco Silva‘s troops remain firmly in continental contention with nearly a third of the season complete.

The only pleasing aspect of last weekend’s shellacking for Fulham was that Iwobi’s strike made it 13 games in all competitions with at least one goal for the Cottagers, who have not been shut out by any team since losing to Manchester United in the opening Premier League contest of the season.

The Cottagers have also avoided defeat in each of their last seven Premier League London derbies and could go unbeaten in eight for the first time ever, most recently decimating Spurs 3-0 at Craven Cottage in March, but their last league success on Tottenham’s turf arrived all the way back in March 2013.

Tottenham Hotspur Premier League form:

Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

Fulham Premier League form:

Team News

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Postecoglou delivered both good and bad news on toe victim Christian Romero on Friday, confirming that the Argentine was on the cusp of coming back from his problem but is unlikely to be available for selection on Sunday.

The Argentine should therefore be one of seven absentees for Spurs alongside Mikey Moore (illness), William Vicar (ankle), Micky van de Ven (hamstring), Richarlison (hamstring), Wilson Odobert (hamstring) and the suspended Rodrigo Bentancurserving the second of his seven-game domestic punishment.

Bentancur completed 78 minutes of the Roma draw in midweek but should now relinquish his place in the engine room to Yves Bissoumawhile Johnson’s spot in the side is set to come under threat by the returning James Maddison.

As far as Fulham are concerned, they will be without one of their own midfield fulcrums until the New Year, as Harrison Reed underwent knee surgery just over a week ago and is expected to remain sidelined until early January.

Silva has also confirmed that Joachim Andersen will be out for “some games” with a calf strain, while Jorge Cuenca is missing too, but Sander Berge is seemingly OK

Issa Diop will deputise for Andersen in the heart of defence here, while Bernd Leno, Reiss NelsonIwobi and Emile Smith Rowe can all expect hostile welcomes thanks to their Arsenal connections.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Forster; Porro, Dragusin, Davies, Udogie; Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison; Kulusevski, Solanke, Son

Fulham possible starting lineup:
Leno; Tete, Diop, Bassey, Robinson; Berge, Pereira; Traore, Smith Rowe, Iwobi; Jimenez

We say: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Fulham

Spurs arguably could have had few qualms had Roma returned to Italy with all three points on Thursday, as Postecoglou’s depleted backline conceded numerous opportunities to Ranieri’s side and should be breached at least once by a goal-happy Fulham.

Attack should therefore be the best form of defence for the Lilywhites on Sunday, and while it may not be pretty, we still back the hosts to capitalise on their visitors’ recent rearguard vulnerabilities to emerge triumphant and end Fulham’s unbeaten derby run.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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