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2023/24 English Premier League
Matchday 29
Fulham v Tottenham Hotspur
Craven Cottage
London, England
Saturday, 16 March 2024
Kick-off is at 19h30
Tottenham will be looking to keep the pressure on Aston Villa when they make the short trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham on Saturday, March 16 in the late kick-off.
Spurs boosted their chances of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League after they triumphed 4-0 at Villa Park on March 10 to close within two points of the Villans in fifth place following their third win in four outings.
Ange Postecoglou's side have a game in hand on Villa and they maintained the six-point gap to Manchester United (6th), who beat Everton 2-0 at Old Trafford on March 9 to arrest a two-match losing streak.
The Cottagers saw a two-game winning sequence come to an end with a 2-1 defeat to Wolves at Molineux on March 9 as they missed out on the chance to go above neighbours Chelsea in the standings.
Marco Silva's side remain one place and one point behind the Blues in 12th position, having played two matches more than their West London rivals, who were due to face Newcastle at Stamford Bridge on March 11.
Bournemouth (13th) closed within three points of Fulham following a 2-2 draw with Sheffield United at the Vitality Stadium on March 9, while Crystal Palace (14th) after a further three adrift after being held to a 1-1 draw by Luton at Selhurst Park.
Image Source: Alamy Stock Photo
In team news, the hosts could welcome back Raul Jimenez, who has missed the last six games with a hamstring injury and is the only absentee in an otherwise fully-fit squad. Ryan Sessegnon (thigh), Fraser Forster (ankle), Manor Solomon and Micky van de Ven (both knee) remain unavailable to Postecoglou, although he could be boosted by the return of Richarlison (knee).
Silva conceded they were made to pay for a poor start to the second half against Wanderers, who opened the scoring just seven minutes after the restart to put his team on the back foot.
"I was not happy with the way we started the first half, the first five minutes, and I told the players that we had to start the second half completely different," the Portuguese said.
"It was something that we reinforced at half-time and it's really strange the way we started the second half because we were aware that we had to start much quicker with much more of the ball.
"The reality was that we started the complete opposite of how we should and they punished us. We did create chances but it was much more difficult after 2-0."
Image Source: Alamy Stock Photo
Postecoglou was pleased with the way his players kept pushing Villa after it remained goalless at the break and he praised the four goalscorers even if he feels they can be more ruthless in front of goal.
"I just felt, even towards the end of the first half, our continual pressing, tempo and intensity were beginning to wear on them and that was the message at half-time, perseverance, and got off to a flying start in the second half, which was great and then the quality of our football shone through," he told SPURSPLAY.
"Our finishing was better today. It's still an area of the park I feel we can still be more ruthless in, even today, we had more chances, but it was great to score more goals and the guys who scored the goals, they're the ones playing in those forward areas and they work really hard on the defensive side of the game, but they are there to score and create goals and they all contributed."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Fulham wins - 0
Tottenham wins - 4
Draws - 1
Premier League Matchday 29 fixtures:
Saturday, March 16
17h00: Burnley v Brentford
17h00: Luton Town v Nottingham Forest
19h30: Fulham v Tottenham Hotspur
Sunday, March 17
16h00: West Ham United v Aston Villa
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