Cavaleiro’s goal earns Fulham a point at Spurs
Fulham gave their Premier League survival hopes a huge shot in the arm with a well-deserved point against Spurs.
An Ivan Cavaleiro header equalised Harry Kane’s first-half opener to earn his side a fifth successive draw in the league.
Although it was not enough to keep Fulham out of the bottom three, manager Scott Parker can take plenty of encouragement from the performance in which they dominated large periods of the second half against Jose Mourinho’s title chasers.
The visitors started well with Andre Anguissa stinging the palms of Hugo Lloris with a firm early effort that was pushed away by the Spurs skipper.
Fulham made six changed to the side that beat QPR in the FA Cup on Saturday, one of those, Alphonse Areola, pulled off two fine saves to deny Son Heung Min from close range inside the first 20 minutes.
However, he has was powerless to deny Spurs taking the lead midway through the opening period when Kane met Sergio Reguilon’s magnificent cross on run and thumped a diving header home.
Spurs continued to press for a second before half-time, but Fulham looked threatening when they did manage to venture forward.
Toisin Adarabioyo made a brilliant sliding tackle in the box to deny Moussa Sissoko just after half-time after Ruben Loftus-Cheek had a shot blocked in the Spurs box moments earlier.
After that scare Fulham grew into the game and enjoyed a decent spell of pressure with Loftus-Cheek growing more influential as the game progressed.
Antoinee Robinson and Bobby Decordova-Reid caused the hosts some problems down the flanks but good crosses were dealt with well by the Spurs defence.
But it was the introduction of Ademola Lookman that turned the game in Fulham’s favour and helped get them back on level terms.
The young winger delivered a lovely whipped cross that found the head of Cavaleiro, who nodded past Lloris for a deserved equaliser.
Fulham continued to press but were unable to find a winner and rode their luck somewhat when Son rolled a shot against the post and in the final minute Reguilon had a close-range effort ruled offside.
Lookman broke free for the last chance of the game, but his shot on goal was blocked as Spurs held on for a point,
Fulham: Areola, Tete (Lookman 66), Aina, Robinson, Anderson, Adarabioyo, Anguissa, Reed, Loftus-Cheek (Onomah 90), Cavaleiro (Kamara 87), Decordova-Reid.
Subs not used: Rodak, Hector, Kebano, Ream, Bryan, Kongolo.
