Tottenham 4 Fulham 0

Fulham's eight-game unbeaten league run came to an abrupt end on Saturday when Jean Tigana's side suffered their heaviest defeat since the Frenchman became manager in June 1999, writes Mark Caswell.

With both teams playing good, passing football, it was an entertaining match for the fans. But Spurs made the most of their chances, whereas Fulham wanted one touch too many or shot high into the stands.

The biggest culprit was Louis Saha who threatened the higher tiers at both ends and the Tottenham keeper Neil Sullivan did not have a save to make all afternoon.

The home side's first goal came in the 20th minute and it proved to be a milestone strike for in-form Les Ferdinand.

His effort was the 10,000th goal scored since the inception of the Premiership.

The north London side increased their lead in the 39th minute when Ferdinand combined with the ever-impressive Teddy Sheringham to set up Darren Anderton, who scored from the edge of the box.

Fulham were second best all afternoon and Edwin Van Der Sar had to be alert to deny Gustavo Poyet on two occasions.

Riot

However, Tottenham did go further ahead when Anderton and Sheringham linked up to release man of the match Simon Davies, who placed the ball wide of Van der Sar.

Davies ran riot down Fulham's left flank and Tigana's reluctance to play a left-sided midfielder only served to expose full-back Rufus Brevett to the lively Spurs player.

With no Fulham cover, the home team were able to create three goals from this position.

The fourth Tottenham strike came in the 76th minute after another slick move.

Ringmaster Sheringham's astute pass found Poyet, who played in substitute Sergi Rebrov to finish in style.

Luis Boa Morte was unlucky not to earn Fulham a consolation penalty when he was fouled by Maurico Taricco in the area and then found himself booked by referee Neale Barry for diving.

Tigana had seen enough and departed to the changing room for the final four minutes.

Afterwards, the Whites manager said: "We had a bad day against an efficient side.

"It is the first time we have played three matches in a week at this level and my problem is that we need to score more goals."

December 21, 2001 13:00