Premier League Preview: Tottenham Pose a Tough Challenge to Fulham

Tottenham Hotspur vs Fulham FC

Tottenham Hotspur are one of the biggest favourites to mount a challenge to Manchester City and pry the Premier League title away from Manchester City. With a roster featuring players that played fantastic football during the most recent World Cup, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise for pundits and neutral fans to back the Spurs against smaller clubs.

This fact rings true against newly promoted Fulham FC. While they were a Premier League-quality team until 2014, much time has passed and they still have mostly Championship-calibre players on their team. They did make daring purchases during the summer, but that does not instantly equal the playing field.

With such a tough test ahead of them, how will Slavisa Jokanovic pull off a point against one of the league’s top attacking sides?

Talking Points

Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic ready for their second Premier League match against Tottenham — Aleksandar Mitrovic celebrates with Andre Schurrle after scoring his goal for Fulham

Tottenham showed fans that any worries over the club’s lack of signings during the transfer window is unfounded after showing them a strong win against Newcastle in their opening Premier League fixture. While much of the game’s Premier League 2018 highlights was decided during the game’s first 20 minutes, it cannot be denied that Spurs somewhat played a good start to their Premier League season.

Some Tottenham fans might be disappointed with the fact that they struggled to secure a two-goal lead against the Magpies when they obviously had quality players on their side. However, the frustration takes a backseat to the latest knot of frustration to form around the team.

It’s been revealed that Tottenham wouldn’t be able to play Liverpool at the new White Hart Lane due to delays on the construction schedule. The project, which is estimated to cost up to £1bn, saw a lot of unexpected roadblocks to the completion of the project and has no grand opening date set. Mauricio Pochettino’s men would have to make do with playing at Wembley until mid-October.

In the meantime, the fans can expect Harry Kane to bang in goals to start his scoring tally for the season. The World Cup’s Golden Boot winner is always a dangerous presence in front of the goal and will easily score if the Fulham backline doesn’t pay full attention to his every move.

Jokanovic will be hard-pressed to at least get a draw against Spurs, but finding a counter against Tottenham’s strong lineup will be mightily difficult to discover. They have a couple of issues to address before kick-off if they want to get things rolling with at least a single point under their belt.

I think the biggest priority for the Serbian boss is to fully integrate the players he brought over the summer window and find the perfect lineup to combat opponents with over the course of the season. He needs to get talented players like Jean Michael Seri, Andre Schurrle, and Manchester United’s Tim Fosu-Mensah used to his system quickly and be effective players for the system.

However, Aleksandar Mitrovic is not a transfer that will require any adjustments to fit in. He was a key player in Fulham’s promotion to the top division of the Premier League pyramid and finds Craven Cottage as comfortable as his own home. He will surely do everything he can to pester the Tottenham defence and force a result in favour of the Cottagers.

History

Premier League news: Maurico Pochettino vs Slavisa Jokanovic, who will reign at Wembley? — Mauricio Pochettino at the touchline during their season opener match in the Premier League against Newcastle United

Tottenham are currently the favourites to win this match on betting websites like SBOBET. The prior head-to-head history of this match justifies any pre-match analysis made in favour of Spurs.

Many a veteran Fulham fan remember the glory days of the club when they beat Tottenham from 2002 to 2004, but that stretch was just a dot on a long, arduous history of despair. They have played 96 football games since 1903, and the North London club won 49 of those games. They also won both of their league games in the 2013/14 season — the year Fulham got relegated to the Championship — quite comfortably.

When Pochettino came in July 2014 to turn the fortunes of the club around, the quality of the club noticeably increased. The next time these clubs met, Tottenham crushed Fulham like it was nobody’s business. The 2016/17 FA Cup ended in favour of Tottenham, with Kane bagging a hat-trick.

Betting Tip

	Tottenham Hotspur vs Fulham FC	Tottenham Hotspur -1.75 @ 2.05
	August 18, 22:00 (GMT+8)

The Premier League 2018 odds obviously favour Tottenham, and I don’t find any reason not to support this team ahead of this game.

I don’t see Tottenham ceding another unlucky goal against Fulham as Pochettino should have sorted out the team’s set-piece defending and sealed up any holes on the defence brought about by offseason rut. I don’t see Fulham fully adjusting to the Premier League level just yet, and that’s the kind of opportunity Kane would hate to miss. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dele Alli also gets in on the scoring.

If you’re looking for alternative markets to bet on, there’s a good option over at the Over-Under market. Fulham’s defence shouldn’t be that shoddy, so I think goals will stop after Tottenham have scored two. Under 3.00 Goals is available at 2.05 for those interested at expanding their betting choices.