Ange Postecoglou’s side look to strengthen their quest for a Champions League spot. We look ahead to Fulham vs Tottenham with our prediction and preview.
Fulham vs Tottenham Stats: Quick Hits
- The Opta supercomputer rates Tottenham Hotspur as favourites, with the visitors beating Fulham in 44.1% of pre-match simulations.
- Fulham have lost 14 of their last 16 Premier League games against Tottenham (W1 D1).
- Son Heung-min has been involved in 22 goals in his last 21 Premier League appearances, scoring 14 and assisting eight.
Match Preview
Tottenham may be starting to dream of UEFA Champions League football next season after a crucial win over Aston Villa in the top-four battle, which will continue when Ange Postecoglou’s men travel to face Fulham at Craven Cottage in the Premier League on Saturday.
Spurs are two points behind Villa in the table but hold the advantage with a game in hand and a marginally better goal difference after crushing Unai Emery’s side 4-0 at Villa Park in a one-sided Matchday 28 clash. The visitors did the damage with four second-half goals as James Maddison, Son Heung-min, Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner were all on target on Sunday.
Son teed up two of those strikes, taking him to 22 goal involvements in his last 21 Premier League appearances after scoring 14 and assisting eight. The South Korean has had a hand in six goals in his last six London derby matches (five goals, one assist) as well.
Maddison, meanwhile, has been directly involved in nine goals in eight away games in the league this season (three goals, six assists); only in 2022-23 has he had more goal involvements away from home in a single top-flight campaign (11 in 16 appearances).
Werner will be looking to score in three consecutive games in the competition for the first time come Saturday’s kick-off, last doing so in league action in November/December 2019 at RB Leipzig (a run of seven). The former Chelsea forward has been involved in four goals in seven league appearances for Spurs (two goals, two assists).
That fearsome attacking trio, coupled with the improvement of Johnson and the ever-reliable Dejan Kulusevski, have helped Tottenham score 59 Premier League goals this season, a tally only bettered by the current top three of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City.
Spurs’ rate of 2.2 goals per game is also their second highest in a single Premier League campaign after 2016-17 (2.3), and they have managed in recent weeks without the injured Richarlison, who could return for the Craven Cottage visit. Micky van de Ven’s fitness will be monitored after coming off in the second half at Villa, while Postecoglou’s squad remains without Manor Solomon, Fraser Forster and Ryan Sessegnon.
As for the hosts, Fulham manager Marco Silva will have been disappointed with the manner of the 2-1 defeat at Wolves, which followed impressive wins over Brighton and Manchester United. Alex Iwobi’s 98th-minute finish counted for little at Molineux on Saturday as the Cottagers already trailed through Rayan Aït-Nouri’s opener and a Tom Cairney own goal.
Cairney knocking past teammate Bernd Leno marked Fulham’s fourth own goal in the Premier League this season; only rock-bottom Sheffield United (five) have put the ball in their own net more often. The general outlook for Silva’s men is nowhere near as bleak, though, as they sit 12th in the table heading into the weekend.
Postecoglou will want to be mindful on Saturday of Rodrigo Muniz, who has been involved in six goals in his last six Premier League games (five goals, one assist), having not scored or assisted in any of his first 10 this season. However, he has started in each of his last six appearances; he only started three of his first 10.
The striker’s run in the Fulham lineup owes to the prolonged absence of Raúl Jiménez, who Silva will hope can pass a late fitness test to return from a thigh injury that has kept him out since the end of January. Thankfully for the hosts, that is their only known injury concern heading into this London derby.
Fulham vs Tottenham Head-to-Head
Fulham’s record against Tottenham is woeful, having lost 14 of their last 16 Premier League meetings (W1 D1). They are winless in nine (D1 L8) since a 1-0 victory at White Hart Lane in March 2013.
Indeed, Spurs have won each of their last seven top-flight away games at Craven Cottage, their joint-longest run of away league victories against an opponent (also two runs of seven against Villa).
The most recent meeting ended in a 2-0 victory for Postecoglou’s side at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in October, with Son and Maddison scoring. Fulham did triumph on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the EFL Cup second round in August, though.
Recent Form
Tottenham will be looking to secure back-to-back away league wins for the first time since October, while they’ve scored at least twice in each of their last six on the road, only once having a longer run in their league history (10 between April and October 1960).
Yet it will be no straightforward task given only the current top five clubs and Newcastle United have won more Premier League home games than Fulham’s eight this term, which is as many as the Cottagers managed last season. They last won more in a single top-flight campaign in 2011-12 (10).
Fulham have also won their last two Premier League home London derbies, beating West Ham 5-0 and Arsenal 2-1 in December, but they’ve never won three consecutive such matches in the division before.
Tottenham have their own derby-day record at stake, too, having lost just one of their last 10 league matches against fellow London clubs away from home (W3 D6), while they are unbeaten in six (W3 D3) since a 3-1 loss at fierce rivals Arsenal in October last season.
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Fulham vs Tottenham Prediction
The Opta supercomputer sees Tottenham as the favourites at Craven Cottage, with the visitors winning 44.1% of 10,000 pre-match simulations, some way ahead of Fulham’s 28.3% likelihood.
A draw would be a blow to Spurs’ top-four charge, though that result was forecast at 27.6% in the same data-led model as Postecoglou’s side prepare for a testing end to the campaign.
After defeating Villa, Spurs (53.1%) are now the favourites to finish fourth and secure Champions League football in Opta’s end-of-season simulations, ahead of Unai Emery’s men (41.2%). Meanwhile, Fulham are expected to finish 12th – their current league-table position – most often in 36.1%.
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