Gameweek 23 culminated at Craven Cottage on Sunday as Tottenham Hotspur pulled off a last-gasp victory over Fulham to keep themselves seven points clear of fifth place in the race for UEFA Champions League qualification.
A Spurs side missing the likes of Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Moussa Sissoko had to rely on a stoppage-time winner from Harry Winks to secure all three points, though this latest away-day success came at a cost as they lost Dele Alli to a hamstring strain late in the match.
We’ve got the latest on Alli’s injury plus a summary of the key Fantasy talking points and relevant manager quotes from yesterday’s derby in west London.
Fulham 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur
- Goals: Fernando Llorente (£5.6m) own-goal | Dele Alli (£8.9m), Harry Winks (£5.5m)
- Assists: Jean Michael Seri (£5.0m) | Christian Eriksen (£9.4m), Georges-Kevin Nkoudou (£4.8m)
Mauricio Pochettino said Dele Alli‘s (£8.9m) injury “doesn’t look great” after the former MK Dons midfielder limped from the field after 86 minutes of Spurs’ 11th away league victory of the season.
Alli was left clutching his hamstring after an innocuous touchline tussle with Ryan Sessegnon (£6.0m) and couldn’t continue, having to be substituted soon after.
Pochettino said after full-time:
We need to assess him in the next few days but the hamstring is a muscle that you need to be careful with, the mechanism of the injury. Of course, we need to assess in the next few days, but it doesn’t look great.
On the pitch, I think we all agree that when you see him put his hand on his hamstring it’s a situation where you feel… it’s not great to see that.
The consolation for Alli’s Fantasy owners is that Spurs have ten days of recuperation before their next Premier League fixture against Watford, which is the first of three consecutive home matches that the Lilywhites enjoy.
Those Fantasy bosses taking a punt on the differential premium midfielder, whose ownership hovered around the 3.5% mark ahead of the Gameweek 23 deadline, looked to have made a shrewd purchase as Alli banked a goal and two bonus points to continue his fine scoring streak in a Harry Kane-less (£12.5m) Spurs side.
For the first 50 minutes of this match in west London, Spurs looked to be suffering a serious hangover from the injuries to Kane, Son Heung-min (£8.6m) and Moussa Sissoko (£4.9m).
Pochettino’s side had only registered one shot on target (four overall) before Alli headed in Christian Eriksen‘s (£9.4m) superb cross to restore parity and even after wresting control of the match thereafter, Spurs appeared to be slowly trudging towards their first Premier League draw of the season.
The Lilywhites weren’t aided by the presence of poor Fernando Llorente (£5.6m) up front, who put in a fairly disastrous shift at either end of the pitch.
The veteran striker deserves some mitigation as this was his first top-flight start of the season and only his second such appearance in a Spurs shirt, so expecting him to pick up where Kane left off (nine goals and five assists in his 12 most-recent Premier League matches) was a tall order to say the least.
It would have been difficult to script a more hapless performance from the former Swansea front-man, however, as he unwittingly turned a Jean Michael Seri (£5.0m) corner into his own net to give Fulham a 16th-minute lead and then fluffed two excellent headed chances at the other end of the pitch.
No player on show had as many attempts on goal or penalty box touches as Llorente but, perhaps understandably after rusting on the Spurs bench for almost 18 months, the Spaniard lacked any sort of conviction when presented with his opportunities, his performance summed up when he miscontrolled a Kieran Trippier (£6.1m) flick-on and threw himself to the ground as the ball bobbled out of play.
Pochettino nevertheless declared himself satisfied with Llorente’s showing:
I am happy, very. He fought over 90 minutes, he added to the team his characteristics and quality. He had a few chances to score, a little bit unlucky. I think he’s now a little bit tired after 90 minutes in the Premier League but that’s normal.
Whether Llorente gets another chance to lead the line in the Premier League remains to be seen, as Pochettino said Lucas Moura‘s (£6.8m) return to the first-team fold was imminent:
Lucas Moura was training today at the training ground. Lucas Moura is going to be okay. Today we didn’t want to take a risk with him but he’s is nearly 100 per cent to try to help the team.
Maybe it’s not going to be Dele Alli but we are going to have Lucas Moura on the bench or maybe starting from the beginning. We’ll see how are going manage him now.
The Brazilian has an EFL Cup semi-final, second leg against Chelsea and an FA Cup fourth-round tie against Crystal Palace to come before Watford visit Wembley a week on Wednesday, so Lucas might well be fighting fit to lead the line against the Hornets – or perhaps take Alli’s place in the attacking midfield positions – by the time Gameweek 24 rolls around.
An out-of-position, mid-price midfielder potentially playing as a striker for a “big six” side (at least, until Son’s return) would be an appealing proposition, but Spurs were disjointed without their star names at Craven Cottage and there would be no guarantee of bumper attacking hauls even if Lucas did get the nod in attack.
Alli, playing as one of the two supporting midfielders behind Llorente, had only one attempt on goal all match, as did the ineffective Erik Lamela (£6.1m) alongside him.
Eriksen gradually grew into the fixture in the second half but was largely disappointing from a Fantasy perspective: his excellent assist for Alli’s goal was his only key pass of the game, while he didn’t trouble Sergio Rico (£4.4m) once in the home goal.
Eriksen’s deeper role alongside Harry Winks (£5.5m) was also off-putting from an FPL point of view but the return to fitness of Eric Dier (£4.7m) could be a significant one, with the England “water carrier” being introduced in the final quarter of an hour and his presence allowing his midfield colleagues to press further forward.
If Pochettino sticks with the 3-4-2-1 formation he used at Craven Cottage going into Gameweek 24 (injuries having dictated this system change), then Dier could potentially be used alongside Winks in central midfield with Eriksen allowed to push forward into one of the two more advanced roles behind the spearhead of the attack.
Spurs defender Jan Vertonghen (£5.9m), one of three centre-backs used in this system, cited Dier’s influence after the game, highlighting the freedom his introduction allowed Winks to get forward and nod Spurs’ winner from a Georges-Kevin Nkoudou (£4.8m) cross:
I don’t even know what [Harry] was doing there! Eric Dier came on and that gave Harry the freedom to play higher up the pitch.
Pochettino suggested that Nkoudou could be given more chances to impress given that the squad are down to their bare bones:
We struggle with players we have injured and, of course, he has the possibility to play. If we see the fixtures that we have ahead, we need him and all the players we had today.
Of course he’s disappointed because he didn’t play too much until now, but now if there is the possibility like today and he shows this type of performance – I think the cross was perfect – of course, he will have the possibility to play.
Spurs don’t have any fitness issues at the back but they looked shaky for the opening 45 minutes, with Fulham having nine of their 12 shots in the first half.
Ryan Babel (£5.5m) impressed on his Fulham debut on the left flank and could have easily found the net, forcing Hugo Lloris (£5.4m) into a fine save when clean through on goal, nodding over a Cyrus Christie (£4.2m) cross and then seeing an attempt from inside the box blocked by a last-ditch Vertonghen challenge.
Claudio Ranieri said of the Dutch winger:
Ryan Babel was a big threat to the Tottenham players and I am very pleased.
Of course, he doesn’t have 90 minutes because in Turkey there is a winter break but I hope in one month he has 90 minutes in his legs.
Babel for Sessegnon was Ranieri’s only change from the 2-1 defeat to Burnley, with Calum Chambers (£4.2m) continuing “out of position” in central midfield.
Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.5m) was a handful for the Spurs backline and should have been awarded a penalty after being hauled down by Vertonghen, before the Serbian striker saw a header ruled out for offside when he followed up Andre Schurrle‘s (£5.6m) saved volley.
The fact remains, though, that it is just three goals in 17 Premier League appearances for the former Newcastle forward since his early-season blitz.
Ranieri reflected on his side’s brave showing:
Our first half was fantastic and we also had a penalty but the referee didn’t see and a penalty is when the referee whistles.
There was a big penalty on Mitrovic, but it’s okay. I think it was a good match, second half we controlled the match very well in a defensive way.
We gave a gift with the first goal and the second goal is unbelievable to explain because we had free-kicks and I said to the players, ‘why do we have to put the ball in the box, why?’
We lack experience. There was a ball close to the corner, take the ball to the corner, spend ten seconds but the keeper puts a long ball, we intercept the ball and we want to kick on goal.
Calm, stay calm, keep possession, finish the match and at the end, after three minutes of extra time they score the goal.
Fulham XI (3-4-3): Rico; Odoi, Le Marchand, Ream; Christie, Chambers, Seri (Cisse 80′), Bryan; Schurrle (Kebano 72′), Babel (Sessegnon 55′), Mitrovic.
Tottenham Hotspur XI (3-4-2-1): Lloris; Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen; Trippier, Eriksen, Winks, Rose; Lamela (Dier 79′), Alli (Nkoudou 86′); Llorente.
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